no cross-referencing between themes and motifs, no cross-referencing to songs, just raw data. it's too much work otherwise, and i really need to focus on homework this weekend. =_____=;;



i split it up into multiple categories. for those who don't know, a theme is an overall message in a work, and a motif is a repeated image or symbol in a work. you can say that love and giving are themes of christmas, and that jingle bells and lighted trees are motifs of christmas, just as an example to make it easy to understand.

i originally had major and minor for both, but then i decided that since there were so many motifs, i would have to split it up more. this is by no means concrete or 100% correct, and there is no interpretation here, just raw data from going through each song and writing down things that i saw repeated.

major themes and motifs are things that play a larger role in her music and that show up more often. minor themes show up less often and are less important. mid-minor motifs can show up fairly often (or show up less often than major motifs), but have a less important symbolic or literal meaning in relation to the themes of the song. sub-minor motifs show up the least and have the least impact on the meaning and are things she just happens to use often. also, a lot of the sub-minor motifs have different meanings depending on the specific mention. well, everything does, since she didn't write all of her music at once to interlink, but you know what i mean.

some of these are interesting to me in how they are used, so i may give little commentaries as i go. again, i'm not trying to give an analysis of anything, just lists.

if anyone has any extra info, things that should be added/removed, changed on the lists, etc., then feel free to comment. this is all highly tentative anyway. also, feel free to give analysis of these things. i may later once we get a discussion going, but i'm refraining right now, mostly because i'm biased towards certain things. :D

major themes:
time/eternity/future/past (often related to rebirth or adulthood)
innocence/purity/dirtiness (the motif of colours being dyed and things being stained or dirty is clesly related to this)
goodbyes
rebirth (often related to time)
melancholy of growing up (often related to time)

minor themes:
fate
lies
freedom
memory (often related to either rebirth or adulthood)
protection
smashing weakness (closely related to rebirth, but I thought it deserved a separate mention)


major motifs:
plants/flowers
birds
sea/sky
masks (few explicit examples, mostly in her visual art, but still very important)
dying colours/staining (white vs. coloured, also, red and blue are very common colours that she uses)

mid-minor motifs:
burning/fire
ashes/scattering/shattering (i include mentions of bones in with ashes and i include any sort of powder in with ashes, such as grinding her dull future, alibis, lies into white in stone, but i'm biased)
animals (cats, sea creatures)
inanimate objects imitating humanity (i wasn�t sure where to put this one � major motif? theme? swin, help?)
weather/sun/moon/morning
eyes/seeing
dreams/sleep
fever/sickness
paint/painting/pictures (mentions of the act of painting things in or out, physical paint, and photographs or other pictures)
voice/sound/silence
roads/paths
treasure (lost treasure, childish treasures, simple treasures, etc.)
pride
being lost (this could also be a theme, but is also often tied to the themes of growing up)
night sky (stars)

sub-minor motifs:
hair
trash
weapons
numbness
hands (esp. holding)
crowds/cities (mid-minor?)
kissing
crying/laughter (here because of little symbolic meaning)
warmth/coldness (mid-minor?)


well, that's it, really. as i said, please post and comment with your opinions on these themes and motifs and interepretations. i might eventually post my findings on which songs specifically have certain themes and motifs, but since i only have two themes and one motif done (time, innocence, and plants/flowers), it wouldn't be much.