Poem Analysis - Take This Waltz

Introduction: A Dance of Decay

Leonard Cohen's "Take This Waltz" is a darkly romantic and melancholic exploration of love, loss, and the pervasive presence of decay. The poem paints a vivid, often surreal, picture of Vienna, transforming the city into a landscape of both beauty and despair. The tone is a mixture of longing, resignation, and a kind of macabre acceptance, creating a sense of a dance with death itself. There is a subtle shift between longing for connection and a sense of inevitable doom.

Vienna as a Stage for Mortality

While not explicitly historical, the poem evokes a sense of old-world Europe, steeped in tradition but also burdened by history. Vienna, in this poem, is less a real city and more a symbolic space. The imagery associated with Vienna - the "shoulder where Death comes to cry," the doves going "to die," the gallery of frost - points to a pervasive atmosphere of mortality and faded grandeur. This setting serves as a backdrop against which the themes of love and loss are played out, suggesting that even in the most beautiful of settings, death and decay are always present.

Love and Loss Entwined

One of the central themes is the intricate connection between love and loss. The speaker’s repeated desire ("Oh I want you, I want you, I want you") is juxtaposed with images of decay and hopelessness: "a chair with a dead magazine," "some hallway where love's never been," "a bed where the moon has been sweating." This contrast suggests that love is not a source of joy or fulfillment, but rather a desperate attempt to find solace in a world permeated by death and disillusionment. The recurring line "Take this waltz" can be interpreted as an offering of this imperfect, tainted love, a dance with both pleasure and pain.

The Waltz as a Symbol of Fading Beauty

The "waltz" itself is a powerful symbol, representing tradition, elegance, and ultimately, the fading beauty of a bygone era. The descriptions of the waltz – "with the clamp on it's jaws," "take its broken waist in your hand," "with its very own breath of brandy and Death" – depict it as something damaged, corrupted, and struggling to survive. The image of the waltz "dragging its tail in the sea" is particularly striking, suggesting a once-grand tradition now drowning in its own decay. The waltz embodies the speaker's own feelings of being trapped and diminished.

A River's Disguise and a Scrapbook Soul

The lines "I'll be wearing a river's disguise…And I'll bury my soul in a scrapbook" are filled with symbolic weight. Wearing "a river's disguise" suggests an attempt to conceal oneself, to blend into the flowing, ever-changing current of life, perhaps to escape the pain and memories of the past. Burying "my soul in a scrapbook" indicates a desire to preserve moments, even painful ones, as a way of holding onto the past. The inclusion of "photographs" and "moss" further emphasizes the theme of decay and the attempt to capture fleeting beauty before it disappears.

Final Thoughts: The Embrace of Imperfection

"Take This Waltz" is a haunting and evocative poem that explores the complex relationship between love, loss, and the inevitability of decay. Through vivid imagery, a melancholic tone, and the recurring symbol of the broken waltz, Cohen creates a world where beauty is always intertwined with sorrow. The poem ultimately suggests that even in the face of death and disillusionment, there is a certain beauty to be found in the imperfect, the broken, and the things that are fading away. The waltz offered is a waltz of acceptance, a dance with life's inherent flaws and inevitable end.