Post by pseudio on Jun 29, 2019 9:27:29 GMT
I tried to find whether or not others had already posted about this and came up with nothing, but forgive me if someone else has already brought the idea up.
I have just read Excitement's Crave again, for the first time since JJD's arrest I think. And the odd phrase "seeking lore" jumped out at me. cityofchill discusses this phrase at length in this post and does a bang up job of exploring the meaning of "seeking lore" in the context of the rest of the poem. Excuse me as I quote an entire paragraph from that post that I thought asked some good questions about this weird phrasing, and discusses well some of the context of the stanza and poem as a whole.
It is a particularly weird little phrase with how it is just sort of tagged on to the end of stanza. Seeking lore is not a third example of something that is a recognised social norm, in my opinion, at least not in the same ways that decorum/being polite and working a salaried job are social norms. The author does not claim it is another example of a recognised social norm, either. He says working a job for a pay cheque (along with, he adds - unnecessarily IMO - the promise of more money) is a social norm and then says "as is decorum." He doesn't say "as is seeking lore." He just tags it on the end there, out of nowhere. Sure, he adds a comma. But if he meant BOTH decorum and seeking lore were also recognised social norms, wouldn't he have just said "as ARE decorum, seeking lore" or "as ARE decorum AND seeking lore"?
So I'd like to raise the idea that there "seeking lore" has an additional meaning, if Excitement's Crave was actually written by JJD. In addition to its poetic or thematic meaning (one interpretation being his desire for fame) it could be a hidden clue to JJD's identity. The clue is hidden behind its actual/possible poetic meanings - no one would notice it was a hidden clue at all if they didn't know the identity of the suspect before they read it. Like the rest of the poem, it is the author thumbing his nose at the reader for not knowing what he knows - his identity.
Essentially I wonder if it is no accident that "lore" is a homophone for "law" as in law enforcement, the law, police officers. The line "seeking lore" comes at the end of a stanza that is basically about how he has a job and pretends to be a normal, civilized member of society. So he is telling the reader both that, like cityofchill discusses, he is seeking lore (or fame, like Jesse James - another little clue to his identity? As his name is J- James - I'm sure others have probably already mentioned that) all the while he is also playing a game, thumbing his nose at the reader, because he knows he is also actually telling them throughout the stanza who they should be seeking, namely:
Adding to my suspicion that this might be part of the reason that author, if it is JJD, included this line, is that the line it rhymes with does not seem to add much, and seems like it has been weirdly constructed. Particularly the second half of the line. Sure, "accepting some work to perform" or "accepting some work to perform, at fixed pay" are social norms. And it IS arguably a social norm that part of what people are concerned with at work is the possibility of a raise, or a better job, or whatever. But is it SO pervasive in "prevailing society" that it needs to be mentioned? *shrug* I kind of don't think so. It feels like he has partly written "but promise for more" just in order to be able to rhyme "seeking lore" with it later. Or, it could just be that he is bad at writing poetry, it is hard to tell, haha.
Maybe in the first draft, he actually even said "seeking law" (which to me might actually make more sense as a recognised social norm - wanting law and order), but he felt it was too risky - someone might piece it together that he meant "looking for a cop." Badda boom badda bing, he changes it to "lore" after he writes later in the poem about things like how he will be famous like J- James and Son of Sam, how he thinks he will become sort of a part of the cultural knowledge and history of his society.
Anyway, the homophone just jumped out at me on re-reading, nothing too interesting and this is all just hypothesising into the blue, but wanted to share to hear others thoughts
Assuming JJD did actually even write Excitement's Crave, do you think "seeking lore" could be a little clue that cop JJD left? Or that there are any other clues in there that we can pick out, retrospectively? One that I am squinting at sideways is "others lifting" - because didn't his stepfather, and himself, work for a crane and hoist company for a time? Or nah, it is just an awkwardly written poem about how he is on a different level to everyone else and has an exciting life raping and murdering people because he wants to and how he will be famous for it? Again, assuming JJD wrote it, that mightn't be the case but I felt a discussion about whether or not JJD actually wrote Excitement's Crave was probably just better left to a separate thread/separate topic.
I have just read Excitement's Crave again, for the first time since JJD's arrest I think. And the odd phrase "seeking lore" jumped out at me. cityofchill discusses this phrase at length in this post and does a bang up job of exploring the meaning of "seeking lore" in the context of the rest of the poem. Excuse me as I quote an entire paragraph from that post that I thought asked some good questions about this weird phrasing, and discusses well some of the context of the stanza and poem as a whole.
Another interesting point related to the author's mention of "seeking lore" is the word seeking, a verb that is used three times in the poem: In the Second Stanza ("Oneself must seek satisfaction"); In the Third Stanza ("seeking lore") and the Fourth Stanza ("Leisure tempts excitement seeking"). As I've said before, it is extremely important to take a closer look at things that stand out — in literature as well as criminology — whether because of repetition, incongruity, relation, etc., in order to better understand what is important to the author. Which words, themes, ideas, actions, images does the author focus on? In this case, we have an interesting word — lore — paired with a verb that the author uses three times — seek. For this reason, the phrase "seeking lore" becomes interesting on two levels and demands a closer look on both levels. What does it mean to "seek" lore? The verb "seek" and the noun "lore" are an awkward pairing. I think it is important to ask ourselves at this point whether this is yet another occasion of the author's poetic reach failing him, or if we should pay attention to what he means. Also, how does the author employ the verb seek in the other three instances where it appears in the poem, and is there a correlation? Does the use and/or repetition of the verb seek represent a kind of idiosyncrasy that tells us something about the author's vocabulary and worldview? Finally, how does the pairing of deocrum and seeking lore affect our perception of these things that the author refers to as "accepted social norms," and how does one seek lore anyways? These are just three questions we should seek to address when examining the phrase "seeking lore."
It is a particularly weird little phrase with how it is just sort of tagged on to the end of stanza. Seeking lore is not a third example of something that is a recognised social norm, in my opinion, at least not in the same ways that decorum/being polite and working a salaried job are social norms. The author does not claim it is another example of a recognised social norm, either. He says working a job for a pay cheque (along with, he adds - unnecessarily IMO - the promise of more money) is a social norm and then says "as is decorum." He doesn't say "as is seeking lore." He just tags it on the end there, out of nowhere. Sure, he adds a comma. But if he meant BOTH decorum and seeking lore were also recognised social norms, wouldn't he have just said "as ARE decorum, seeking lore" or "as ARE decorum AND seeking lore"?
So I'd like to raise the idea that there "seeking lore" has an additional meaning, if Excitement's Crave was actually written by JJD. In addition to its poetic or thematic meaning (one interpretation being his desire for fame) it could be a hidden clue to JJD's identity. The clue is hidden behind its actual/possible poetic meanings - no one would notice it was a hidden clue at all if they didn't know the identity of the suspect before they read it. Like the rest of the poem, it is the author thumbing his nose at the reader for not knowing what he knows - his identity.
Essentially I wonder if it is no accident that "lore" is a homophone for "law" as in law enforcement, the law, police officers. The line "seeking lore" comes at the end of a stanza that is basically about how he has a job and pretends to be a normal, civilized member of society. So he is telling the reader both that, like cityofchill discusses, he is seeking lore (or fame, like Jesse James - another little clue to his identity? As his name is J- James - I'm sure others have probably already mentioned that) all the while he is also playing a game, thumbing his nose at the reader, because he knows he is also actually telling them throughout the stanza who they should be seeking, namely:
- someone with a regular job
- someone who acts like a polite member of society
Adding to my suspicion that this might be part of the reason that author, if it is JJD, included this line, is that the line it rhymes with does not seem to add much, and seems like it has been weirdly constructed. Particularly the second half of the line. Sure, "accepting some work to perform" or "accepting some work to perform, at fixed pay" are social norms. And it IS arguably a social norm that part of what people are concerned with at work is the possibility of a raise, or a better job, or whatever. But is it SO pervasive in "prevailing society" that it needs to be mentioned? *shrug* I kind of don't think so. It feels like he has partly written "but promise for more" just in order to be able to rhyme "seeking lore" with it later. Or, it could just be that he is bad at writing poetry, it is hard to tell, haha.
Maybe in the first draft, he actually even said "seeking law" (which to me might actually make more sense as a recognised social norm - wanting law and order), but he felt it was too risky - someone might piece it together that he meant "looking for a cop." Badda boom badda bing, he changes it to "lore" after he writes later in the poem about things like how he will be famous like J- James and Son of Sam, how he thinks he will become sort of a part of the cultural knowledge and history of his society.
Anyway, the homophone just jumped out at me on re-reading, nothing too interesting and this is all just hypothesising into the blue, but wanted to share to hear others thoughts
Assuming JJD did actually even write Excitement's Crave, do you think "seeking lore" could be a little clue that cop JJD left? Or that there are any other clues in there that we can pick out, retrospectively? One that I am squinting at sideways is "others lifting" - because didn't his stepfather, and himself, work for a crane and hoist company for a time? Or nah, it is just an awkwardly written poem about how he is on a different level to everyone else and has an exciting life raping and murdering people because he wants to and how he will be famous for it? Again, assuming JJD wrote it, that mightn't be the case but I felt a discussion about whether or not JJD actually wrote Excitement's Crave was probably just better left to a separate thread/separate topic.
