I See Fire Meaning

“I See Fire” is a folk song by British singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran, the song was originally written in 2013 for the movie The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. The song appears during the closing credits of the movie and on Ed Sheeran’s 2nd album, X. The song was written for the movie specifically because the song it’s self prepares you for what has happened and for what is to come but the lyrics and theme of the song incite protest or even rebellion. I interpreted the song as that everyone is willing to die together for the cause of freedom. In the case of this assignment I interpreted the struggle as slavery, segregation, the civil rights movement, or even police brutality today. That’s why the speaker of this song is experiencing the struggle of freedom. The entire song describes what this struggle looks like and how the people are impacted by it. Also, the lyrics show that they are prepared to do whatever is necessary to overcome. The
The lyric of fire itself is a major metaphor throughout this whole song. The idea of fire is something destructive or even deadly. So, in comparison with the cause to freedom, you can see the severity of the struggle. “For if the dark returns. Then my brothers will die. And as the sky is falling down. It crashed into this lonely town. And with that shadow upon the ground. I hear my people screaming out.” I interpreted the dark as the oppressor, and if ‘the dark returns’ then it will be as if the cause was for nothing. The sky is falling down as everything the speaker and audience were trying to build. Crashed into this lonely town as the reality of what life used to be, and the shadow as the actual oppression. Again, the speaker is appealing to the audience’s emotion because these lyrics hit home if you can relate to the struggle of freedom. Just the idea of going back to the life of being oppressed is enough to make you feel the speaker’s