all-is-v-57:

silver99johnlocked:

“Claire de la lune“ and John Watson

I was listening to a playlist of classical music when a certain piece caught my attention: Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy. It immediately reminded me of Mary’s perfume, so i thought….why not? there’s always subtext and hidden messages in this show, let’s do some digging and see what we find out. Well, i’m pleased to say that after a brief research i was able to come up with some pretty interesting stuff.

Actually, this song was inspired by a poem named (guess what) ‘Clair de Lune’ written by Paul Verlaine. Originally in french, here is the english translation (not made by me):

Your soul is a moonlit landscape fair,

Peopled with maskers delicate and dim,

That play on lutes and dance and have an air

Of being sad in their fantastic trim.

The while they celebrate in minor strain

Triumphant love, effective enterprise,

They have an air of knowing all is vain,-

And through the quiet moonlight their songs rise,

The melancholy moonlight, sweet and lone,

That makes to dream the birds upon the tree,

And in their polished basins of white stone

The fountains tall to sob with ecstasy.

So i found this analysis on the poem which is quite enlightening. I will put a relevant piece of it here for us:

“The poem Claire de Lune by Paul Verlaine consists of three stanzas where the poet takes the readers through a journey where he gets in touch his soul, with the hopes of finding himself. Translated to English, the name of the poem means ‘Moonlight’. The poet does an intense soul searching under the moonlight where he has created another superficial universe for himself where he associates his soul to a picturesque landscape. He invites all kinds of distractions to feed his soul in the form of masquerades, singing and dancing. The poet talks about his imaginative distractions, especially in lines 2-4, where he mentions ‘playing the lute’ and being ‘sad beneath their fanciful costume’.

In the second stanza the poet dedicates the whole to ease his soul with the sound of melody. The lines ‘singing together in a minor key’, and ‘their song melts into the lunar beam’ reflect his soul connecting his imaginations under the moonlight with his aching for melody.”

The way i see it, this is totally John after Sherlock’s “death”. As we know, John was completely devastated. Understandable, since before meeting him, he was a loner with no purpose and, most likely, with suicidal tendencies, who didn’t have any kind of happiness. Sherlock gave him life again, and with that gone, John seemed to think he was back at stake zero.

Therefore, it is safe to assume that Mary was a safe scape, a “distraction to feed his soul” after his world had been torned apart. They explicitly acknowledge in the show that Mary was the best thing that could’ve happened to him in that time. Either you like her or not, it’s undeniable that she was vital for John’s sanity. He “created another superficial universe for himself” where he could get some joy despite the pain. Yes, of course he was in pain. Two years later and he still thought that it was only right to go to his dead friend gravestone to let him be the first to know of his engagement. And then and only then did he find the courage to go to their old flat and “move on”.

He was, after all, “sad beneath the fanciful costume”, because we all know that his soul was broken, so he tried to connect with his own self under the moonlight (Mary) while he was aching for melody (Sherlock).

~Please feel free to add and tell me your thoughts~

@inevitably-johnlocked @pri1982 @lizzymatryoshka @pretty-damn-smart @sarahthecoat @88thparallel @the-cumberbatchs-stupid-penwing @seaweedwrites @drwatsonnextdoor @silentauroriamthereal @sherlockology @johnlocked-in221b @thejohnlockoutlet @lett-them-eatt-cake

I’ve been obsessed with this All is Vanity meta since the start of my blog, and I’m excited cause you found something that pertains to it!

”Triumphant love, effective enterprise,

They have an air of knowing all is vain,-”

All is Vanity as a painting from The Abominable Bride episode (replacing Sherlock’s skull painting) seems like a direct connection to the poem:

All is Vanity is a reference to Ecclesiastes 1:2 “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.“

It also has a connection to William Shakespeare’s sonnet 59. 

If there be nothing new, but that which is
Hath been before, how are our brains beguil’d,
Which, labouring for invention, bear amiss
The second burthen of a former child!
O, that record could with a backward look,
Even of five hundred courses of the sun,
Show me your image in some antique book,
Since mind at first in character was done!
That I might see what the old world could say
To this composed wonder of your frame;
Whether we are mended, or whe’r better they,
Or whether revolution be the same.
O! sure I am, the wits of former days
To subjects worse have given admiring praise. 

Modern translation: 

“If it’s true that there’s nothing new and everything that now exists existed in the past, 

then we are really fooling ourselves when we struggle to write something new, winding up, after much exhausting, painful labor, with a tired imitation of an imitation! 

If only I could look back into the records, even as far as five hundred years ago, and find a description of you in some old book, 

written when people were just beginning to put their thoughts in writing, so I could see what the old world would say about your amazingly beautiful body. 

Then I could see whether we’ve gotten better at writing or worse, or whether things have stayed the same as the world revolves. 

Oh, I’m sure the witty writers of the past have devoted praise and admiration to worse subjects than you.“

(William’s sonnets are noted throughout the show. Perhaps as precursors to story similarities. Irene texts Sherlock 57 times, John misses Mary’s 59 emergency calls, Sherlock claims that he could have followed Mary to Serbia using 58 different tactics and calculations.)

Ecclesiastes 1:2-9: 

“Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher,
    vanity of vanities! All is vanity.
³ What does man gain by all the toil
    at which he toils under the sun?
⁴ A generation goes, and a generation comes,
    but the earth remains forever.
⁵ The sun rises, and the sun goes down,
    and hastens^[c] to the place where it rises.
⁶ The wind blows to the south
    and goes around to the north;
around and around goes the wind,
    and on its circuits the wind returns.
⁷ All streams run to the sea,
    but the sea is not full;
to the place where the streams flow,
    there they flow again.
⁸ All things are full of weariness;
    a man cannot utter it;
the eye is not satisfied with seeing,
    nor the ear filled with hearing.
⁹ What has been is what will be,
    and what has been done is what will be done,
    and there is nothing new under the sun.”

 William Sherlock Scott Holmes mutters in reference to William Shakespeare “The wheel turns, nothing is ever new.”

Mycroft’s/Sherlock’s warning of the east wind also (i’m not sure how loosely or directly) references numerous biblical passages regarding a terrible wind and rush of enemies coming from different directions, including the east. (The references including Ecclesiastes 1:6).

John’s depression and loss/renewal of purpose as op stated reminds me of sonnet 57, but more especially 58!

Sonnet 57:

“Being your slave, what should I do but tend
Upon the hours and times of your desire?
I have no precious time at all to spend,
Nor services to do, till you require.
Nor dare I chide the world-without-end hour
Whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you,
Nor think the bitterness of absence sour

When you have bid your servant once adieu;
Nor dare I question with my jealous thought
Where you may be, or your affairs suppose,

But, like a sad slave, stay and think of nought
Save, where you are how happy you make those.
   So true a fool is love that in your will,

   Though you do any thing, he thinks no ill.” 

Sonnet 58 (pt. 2 of 57):

“That God forbid, that made me first your slave,
I should in thought control your times of pleasure,
Or at your hand th’ account of hours to crave,
Being your vassal, bound to stay your leisure!

O, let me suffer (being at your beck),
Th’ imprison’d absence of your liberty;
And patience, tame to sufferance, bide each check,
Without accusing you of injury.
Be where you list, your charter is so strong
That you yourself may privilege your time
To what you will; to you it doth belong
Yourself to pardon of self-doing crime.
   I am to wait, though waiting so be hell;

   Not blame your pleasure, be it ill or well.” 

(For more explanation-ish on another post)

This sonnet (historically known Shakespeare writing about a man) in the context of Sherlock, could be seen as John/Sherlock having one-sided views of their relationship. Unaware of their impacts on each other and need for each other.

Your finding of Claire de la lune explains so much in so many ways. It makes use and sense of Sherlock’s consistent noticing of the perfume, other than sniffing out Mary’s intentions. 

It seems like it’s almost Sherlock understanding he and John’s situation (relationship-wise), but never being able to properly place the meaning or a face to what he’s noticing.

Your soul is a moonlit landscape fair,

Peopled with maskers delicate and dim,

That play on lutes and dance and have an air

Of being sad in their fantastic trim.

The while they celebrate in minor strain

Triumphant love, effective enterprise,

They have an air of knowing all is vain,-

And through the quiet moonlight their songs rise,

The melancholy moonlight, sweet and lone,

That makes to dream the birds upon the tree,

And in their polished basins of white stone

The fountains tall to sob with ecstasy.

“He’s writing sad music. Doesn’t eat, barely talks – only to correct the television. I’d say he was heartbroken but he’s Sherlock. He does all that anyway..” – John

Polished basins of white stone remind me of the Thatcher case.

And the poem’s mention of fountains remind me of @fandeadgloves ‘s lovely meta. Mofftiss is out here putting together all these lil hints!