Hozier and Longus both speak of the anguish in a budding relationship of wanting to be with one’s love, but not wholly knowing what that means yet. Both works utilize nature themed language and have the common theme of people wanting to simply be normal lovers.
Longus’ Daphnis desperately wants to be with Chloe, to kiss her and hold her, but he is afraid of what such kisses could do to him. Still, he teaches Chloe to play his pan-pipes, just to snatch them back and press his lips against where hers were, “as a way of kissing Chloe without doing anything unseemly” (Longus, Daphnis and Chloe, 1.24). Later, after realizing that they are in love with each other, and that kissing is something people in love do, they kiss each other frequently (2.7-9). Daphnis and Chloe want to do everything that lovers do, but they must have the traditional aspects of erotic romance spelled out for them.
Hozier’s “Like Real People Do” emphasizes this desire to just be a normal lover and, “kiss like real people do” which echoes of a similar distance of the lover to traditional romance that Daphnis has. Hozier wants to kiss his lover, but the lyrics lead one to believe that he is having to emulate other lovers. So, he thinks they should kiss like real people do, even if he isn’t entirely sure of why they would do this. Likewise, Daphnis wants to kiss Chloe, but he isn’t exactly sure what that will bring about until he learns that kissing is a remedy for love. Chloe’s mouth is also sweet (1.25) just as Hozier’s lover’s lips are- “just put your sweet lips on my lips”. Daphnis and Chloe’s story takes place in a pastoralist bubble, rife with clever cicadas (1.26), just as Hozier makes note of “the bugs and the dirt” – both works pair the natural world with awkward lovers which conjures a connection a connection between the countryside and romantic innocence.
A difference between the works is the way in which the lovers come together, Daphnis and Chloe are raised near each other and fall in love in their youth, while Hozier seems to have been sought out, or at least stumbled upon, by his lover. The Hozier song is also written from the perspective of a bog-body, but Hozier has said that he enjoys both the literal and metaphorical interpretations of the song.
Daphnis and Chloe
1.24 – “as a way of kissing Chloe without doing anything unseemly”
1.25 – “What a paradise breathes from her mouth! apples and pears are not as sweet-scented.”
1.26 – Cicada episode.
2.7-9 – Learning from Philetas and putting that knowledge to the test.