An Interpretation of Mumford & Sons, "The Cave"

First, Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave.”  This is how I understand it:

Imagine a cave underground. There is a large, raised platform in the cave on which a tall barricade is built. Behind this is a massive fire burning. A small opening leads outside, and through this a very low level of sunlight diffuses.

On the lower level of the cave, facing away from the fire toward the back cave wall, sits a row of men. They have been chained so that they cannot look away from the back wall of the cave, not even for an instant. They cannot see one another. They can only stare into the cave wall.

Between the barricade and the fire, something is constantly carrying carvings of things; trees, wagons, other humans. This projects shadows of those images against the wall of the cave where the men are facing. These shadows are the only sights the chained men have ever seen.

They have no concept of a real tree, a real wagon, or a real man. They know these things only by their shadows. If you were to take these men and turn them around to see the real objects, they would be blinded by the fire’s light and disturbed – preferring the familiarity of shadows to reality. If someone were to go a step further, picking up one of those men and forcing him outside to see the external world, he would find it terrible, for that world would be entirely foreign. 

Now let's imagine that over time, this man adjusted to the external world. Once he realized what the cave dwellers were missing, he attempted to return to the cave to explain the truth. At this point, the chained men would turn upon him in violence. They would not be able to process such information.

There are many implications for this analogy. Perhaps the most powerful is that we cannot see beyond our mortal limitations. We are like the men chained, seeing only shadows of reality passing before us. Everything we think we know is to be questioned, for information filters through our senses, and senses are fallible. We cannot even know science with certainty, for observation and replication are based upon input from sight, hearing, touch, etc.

So who can venture outside the cave? Plato believed in a philosopher-king who was able to transcend standard mortal understanding and achieve a purer form of knowledge. Christians would say Jesus existed beyond the realm of mortality, therefore He was able to bring the “beyond” into the darkness of human experience.

It seems to me that this song opens in stanzas 1 and 2 with a character who has experienced life in the cave. He has found it lacking, producing no nourishment except the cyclical consumption of humanity’s offerings. Is it not cannibalistic, in a sense, to live only off the knowledge of our own kind? The narrator empathizes with this void, because he has lived/known the same lack. He understands this empty valley of the heart, and explains what it is like to walk away from the cave, away from fears and faults of isolation.

Yet, it is not easy to walk away. The song compares this breaking away to the journey of Odysseus, when he asked to be bound to a post so that he would not be lured away by the deadly sirens. When someone is leaving the cave, he/she will be tempted to return to what is familiar, just as the chained man would rather see shadows than true forms. Yet there are important, painful things that need to be acknowledged. Not only are a person's own needs for truth a driving force here, but there are also widows and orphans desperate to be seen in truth.

Coming out of the cave is like seeing the whole world upside down. It is humbling (crawling on your hands), painful, and frightening. Yet learning dependence is a vital aspect of growth, and it happens naturally when we are finally brave enough to walk away from a world of shadows and finally see our Maker in truth. The shame of defeat (a defunct dependence upon self-dependency) mentioned in the second stanza is resolved by a recognition that dependence upon the Creator is actually a beautiful thing.

The chorus is a resounding promise. The singer vows not to let his listener be choked by the noose around his/her neck. What is that noose? Being bound to illusion. Never seeing beyond. He is showing them another option. Freedom. Truth.

Strength can come from this pain. Change can come when we are finally honest about the edges of our mortality. We will find our true name in the sunlight.

It's empty in the valley of your heart

The sun, it rises slowly as you walk

Away from all the fears

And all the faults you've left behind

The harvest left no food for you to eat

You cannibal, you meat-eater, you see

But I have seen the same

I know the shame in your defeat

But I will hold on hope

And I won't let you choke

On the noose around your neck

And I'll find strength in pain

And I will change my ways

I'll know my name as it's called again

Cause I have other things to fill my time

You take what is yours and I'll take mine

Now let me at the truth

Which will refresh my broken mind

So tie me to a post and block my ears

I can see widows and orphans through my tears

I know my call despite my faults

And despite my growing fears

But I will hold on hope

And I won't let you choke

On the noose around your neck

And I'll find strength in pain

And I will change my ways

I'll know my name as it's called again

So come out of your cave walking on your hands

And see the world hanging upside down

You can understand dependence

When you know the maker's hand

So make your siren's call

And sing all you want

I will not hear what you have to say

Cause I need freedom now

And I need to know how

To live my life as it's meant to be

And I will hold on hope

And I won't let you choke

On the noose around your neck

And I'll find strength in pain

And I will change my ways

I'll know my name as it's called again