Plato Symposium Compared to “I Melt with You” by Modern English

(Ancient Text by Plato, translated by Alexander Nehamas, Paul Woodruff) and I Melt with You (Contemporary Song by Modern English)

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Both Plato’s Symposium and “I Melt with You” use the verbiage “melt” to describe two lovers coming together physically, uniting as one through sex. The unique use of “melt” to describe love shows a complete blurring of the individual during the act of sex so that two people are melded and formed together. Both the speech and the song describe the act of melting together in physical love as the best thing on earth (lyrics such as “making love to you was never second best”) and the “world crashing” significance for people to unify with their lover. Both ancient Greece and modern society want to feel whole and impossibly close to their partner.

However, Aristophanes’ speech describes the melting together through love and sex as a reunification, forming back together two people who were once a single form. In contrast, the Modern English song describes the melting as an intense closeness, still maintaining separate pronouns for each individual showing a lack of total unification as Aristophanes describes. Therefore, both the song and text have the same idea, but the song describes emotional and physical closeness whereas the text describes literal reunification and melting into one through sex.

Ancient Text Excerpt:

The Speech of Aristophanes
192E-193A, pp.29

Instead, everyone would think he’d found out at last what he had always wanted: to come together and melt together with the one he loves, so that one person emerged from two. Why should this be so? It’s because, as I said, we used to be complete wholes in our original nature, and now “Love” is the name for our pursuit of wholeness, for our desire to be complete.

Key Lyrics:

Moving forward using all my breath
Making love to you was never second best
I saw the world crashing all around your face
Never really knowing it was always mesh and lace

I’ll stop the world and melt with you
You’ve seen the difference and it’s getting better all the time
There’s nothing you and I won’t do
I’ll stop the world and melt with you

Click for full lyrics

Moving forward using all my breath
Making love to you was never second best
I saw the world crashing all around your face
Never really knowing it was always mesh and lace
I’ll stop the world and melt with you
You’ve seen the difference and it’s getting better all the time
There’s nothing you and I won’t do
I’ll stop the world and melt with you
Dream of better lives the kind which never hates
(You should see why)
Trapped in the state of imaginary grace
(You should know better)
I made a pilgrimage to save this humans race
(You should see why)
Never comprehending the race has long gone bye
I’ll stop the world and melt with you
(Let’s stop the world) You’ve seen the difference and it’s getting better all
the time
(Let’s stop the world) There’s nothing you and I won’t do
(Let’s stop the world) I’ll stop the world and melt with you
The future’s open wide
**The future’s open wide
I’ll stop the world and melt with you
(Let’s stop the world) I’ve seen some changes but it’s getting better all the
time
(Let’s stop the world) There’s nothing you and I won’t do
(Let’s stop the world) I’ll stop the world and melt with you
The future’s open wide
hmmm hmmm hmmm
hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmm
hmmm hmmm hmmm
hmmm hmmm hmmm hmmm
I’ll stop the world and melt with you (Let’s stop the world)
You’ve seen the difference and it’s getting better all the time (Let’s stop the
world)
There’s nothing you and I won’t do (Let’s stop the world)
I’ll stop the world and melt with you (Let’s stop the world)
I’ll stop the world and melt with you (Let’s stop the world)
I’ll stop the world and melt with you (Let’s stop the world)
I’ll stop the world and melt with you (Let’s stop the world)
I’ll stop the world and melt with you (Let’s stop the world)

Listen to the song:

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