Why the song ¨Take me to Church¨ is poetry

The song, "Take Me to Church" by Hozier, was released in 2014 and was an instant hit. While many people became hooked on the catchy lyrics, musical arrangement, and the voice of Hozier, the song has a deeper meaning hidden within the lyrics that makes the song really meaningful and shows why it can be poetry.

Hozier uses the song as a metaphor to compare a lover to his religion.  Take me to Church's deeper meaning relates to the contradiction of churches treatment of homosexuality and sexual orientation and how the church thinks it is wrong to not follow the rules.  It is also about how religious organizations look down on people and shames people who do not follow the normal rules Throughout the song, the love takes the place of religion.  In the song he says,

 "I was born sick, but i love it".

  To me this is a symbol that relates to the theme of the song because it is saying that it's ok to undermine humanity and to not follow the rules.  It is ok to be different and not follow the church's strict rules regarding homosexuality. He is ok with undermining the church because he likes being who he is.  Another line in the song reads,

 "I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies". 

 Here he uses a simile to compare himself to a dog and it relates to the larger theme because he is saying how he worships to what the church thinks is wrong. He is the opposite of the church as he is ok with it.  Another example of figurative language right after that is,

 "I'll tell you my sins, so you can sharpen your knife."  

I think this is an example of imagery because it really puts the picture in your head of the church getting mad and punishing someone who does not follow their rules.  It is also a reference to violence and persecution that follows someone that is admitting a sin and in this case it's sexual orientation.   Finally, towards the end of the song a line reads,

"There is no sweeter innocence than our gentle sin".  

Here, i think he uses a metaphor to say that their is nothing better than sinning a little bit because it makes you innocent.  In this case, being homosexual is a sin to the church but being open about it makes him free.

While the song may not seem like poetry at first, if you look deeper the song contains a lot of figurative language and themes that come up.  The songs use of figurative language and underlying theme allow for the song to be identified as poetry.