Theme Portfolio Entry #5

"Anchors"
By The Amity Affliction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLbyKLlvoYA

I have so many anchors   Metaphor   Symbolism
So many, so many   Repetition
So many anchors
Far too many to be sailing on these seas   Metaphor    Symbolism
They're pulling me under    Metaphor
And I just want to be freed
But I'm just drowning and clasping   Metaphor

To the tinder and twine   Symbolism
Not the firm planks and rope    Symbolism
That I know to be mine
That I know to be mine
I have so many anchors   Repetition/Metaphor
Bound to my feet
It feels like I'll forever be bound    Simile/Hyperbole
To the bottom of these seas   Symbolism

Will you hear nothing I say
As the tide just sweeps and sways    Personification
As the anchors that bind me   Symbolism
Just rust and decay    Personification
As I tear my flesh from bone     Hyperbole 
As I scream out to the sky
When will I find my way home?

There are sirens watching me   Symbolism
And they whisper and smile to me
And I'm screaming out to them    Metaphor
Please take these anchors from my feet   Symbolism
OH

I see the moon up above   Symbolism
I've failed my hope
I've thrown out my love   Objectification
I still want to live
I still want to hope
I still want to give
I still want to grow
I was dead and gone
I was cold and alone
I was weighed down and buried    Metaphor
When will I find my way home?

Will you hear nothing I say
As the tide just sweeps and sways    Personification
As the anchors that bind me   Symbolism
Just rust and decay    Personification
As I tear my flesh from bone     Hyperbole 
As I scream out to the sky
When will I find my way home?

Let's get it
When will I find my way home?
[x2]

Will you hear nothing I say
As the tide just sweeps and sways    Personification
As the anchors that bind me   Symbolism
Just rust and decay    Personification
As I tear my flesh from bone     Hyperbole 
As I scream out to the sky
When will I find my way home?

As I tear my flesh from bone     Hyperbole
As I scream out to the sky
When will I find my way home?

In their song "Anchors," The Amity Affliction frequently utilize symbolism and metaphor to convey the speaker's struggles with depression and mental illness. Throughout the song, anchors are used to symbolize the speaker's depression, constantly dragging him down further and further. The song opens with the metaphor "I have so many anchors," which conveys that the speaker is battling many internal demons at once, all of which are weighing heavily on the speaker's mind. The speaker claims that they have "far too many [anchors] to be sailing on these seas," meaning that the speaker's struggle with their inner demons has prevented the speaker from living their life, which is symbolized by the seas that the speaker is sailing on. The speaker has tried to go on living their life, but their demons keep "pulling [them] under," leaving the speaker feeling as though they are "drowning." The speaker goes on to claim that they are "clasping to the tinder and twine, not the firm planks and rope," which further symbolizes the speaker's struggles. The "tinder and twine" represent the frail mental state that the speaker has been left in, while the "firm planks and rope" represent the speaker's mental state before their struggles with depression. Later in the song, the speaker states that they have "sirens watching [them]," which symbolizes the speaker's friends and family, who do not understand the speaker's pain. The speaker has been "screaming out to them" for help, but they can only "whisper and smile to [them]" because they do not understand the way the speaker is feeling. The speaker then symbolizes the mental relief that they have been searching for, stating that they "see the moon up above." The moon is a beacon of hope for the speaker, lying far above the rocky seas that the speaker has been drowning in for so long. The frequent use of metaphor and symbolism in The Amity Affliction's "Anchors" helps to convey the speaker's struggle with depression and mental illness, and the pain that they have felt because of this struggle.