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In Bon Iver’s “AWARDS SEASON,” Justin Vernon takes us on a raw emotional journey, touching on love, pain, and the inevitability of change. For someone like me, with a background in English literature and creative writing, this song feels like the perfect excuse to stretch those literary muscles and dive into what makes these lyrics hit so hard. By layering in comparisons to poets like Elizabeth Bishop, George Barker, and Louis MacNeice, we can unpack these lyrics in a more nuanced way.
Of course, these are just my own interpretations, but I hope to show how Vernon’s themes tap into something timeless.
What really grabbed me about “AWARDS SEASON” is how Vernon deals with emotional cycles—how love, much like life itself, waxes and wanes. It’s an idea that poets have explored for centuries, and here, Vernon taps into that same sense of transformation and resilience. I’ll break down the lyrics and compare them with some of these classic literary works to see what we can uncover about Vernon’s emotional journey.
Just like the way he opens up in his recent interview with The New Yorker, which had a LOT of fun stuff to talk about, where he talks about the toll of performing and his own struggles, “AWARDS SEASON” feels like another step in his personal and artistic evolution. Let’s explore what literary history can tell us about this song’s deeper meaning.
Bon Iver AWARDS SEASON Lyrics
Bon Iver AWARDS SEASON Meaning:
“I can handle / Way more than I can handle / So I keep reaching for the handle / To flood my heart”
In this opening, the speaker is admitting something pretty tough—they feel like they’re taking on more than they can deal with, but they keep trying anyway. It’s like they’re reaching for some kind of control or relief, but it just ends up overwhelming them, flooding their heart with emotion. The “handle” could be a symbol for something they use to cope, but instead of helping, it’s making things harder.
This reminds me of Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “The Man-Moth,” where the character keeps trying to reach for something he can’t quite get. Bishop writes, “He thinks the moon is a small hole at the top of the sky, / proving the sky quite useless for protection.” Like the speaker in the song, the Man-Moth wants to escape or fix something, but no matter how hard he tries, it doesn’t work out the way he hopes. Both the song and the poem show how people sometimes push themselves too hard, even when they already feel fragile.
“Oh how everything can change / In such a small time frame / You can be remade / You can live again”
In these lines, the speaker starts to see that things don’t always stay the same, and even though that can be scary, it also means there’s hope for change. The idea of being “remade” or getting a second chance is important here. They’re saying that even after pain, there’s a chance to grow and feel new again.
This idea connects well with George Barker’s poem “To My Mother,” where Barker talks about how love can change, but it doesn’t disappear. He says, “And fill my heart of hearts, where Death installed you
In setting my Virginia’s spirit free” This line means that love may fade or go away for a while, but it often comes back in different forms. The speaker in the song is feeling something similar—they know life and relationships can change, but they’re hopeful that even after tough times, they can find a way to live and love again.
“Nothing stays the same / What was pain now’s gained”
The speaker is realizing that pain can lead to growth. They’re saying that even though things hurt, it’s possible to take something valuable from the experience. This is a big shift in the song because now the speaker is seeing the good that can come from change, even if it was hard at first.
This theme of change and transformation is also seen in Louis MacNeice’s poem “Snow.” MacNeice writes, “The world is crazier and more of it than we think, / Incorrigibly plural.” He’s talking about how life is full of surprises and contradictions—things don’t always go as planned, but that’s what makes life interesting. In the song, the speaker is recognizing that while nothing stays the same, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. They’re learning that pain can lead to new paths and new understanding, which is a hopeful message.
“You had taken / All away my aching / Well, how could I ever thank ya / I’d been received”
Here, the speaker is talking about how their relationship has given them relief from pain. They feel like the person they’re with has helped take away their sadness and made them feel accepted, like they’re truly seen and understood. This part of the song is about the healing power of love and connection.
In Barker’s “Love and the Emigrant,” he explores this same feeling of being healed by love, but he also shows that love can be both joyful and painful. He writes, “Love is the beginning, the cause and the end / of all the joy and sorrow in the world.” Barker is saying that love is powerful—it can heal, but it can also hurt. The speaker in the song feels that too. They’re grateful for the love they’ve found, but there’s still a sense that they know things might change, which leads to some uncertainty later in the song.
“What can wax can wane / Things can get replayed / And if it’s all the same / Oh just take my hand / And place it on your blame”
This section of the song is all about the back-and-forth of emotions and relationships. The speaker is saying that feelings can grow and fade, just like the moon, and sometimes things that seem finished can come back around. But instead of fighting against that uncertainty, the speaker is asking for forgiveness and offering to be there no matter what. They want to help their partner let go of the blame and move forward together.
This connects to MacNeice’s “Snow,” where he talks about the unpredictable nature of life. The line “The world is crazier and more of it than we think” shows how life is full of things we can’t control. The speaker in the song seems to understand this—they know that things can change, but they’re still hopeful and want to stick by their partner, no matter what happens. Both the song and the poem show how accepting life’s unpredictability can actually bring people closer together.
“But now it’s the season / And I know I will be seein ya / On the TV for some reason / God, my heart”
The song ends with a sense of loss and distance. The speaker knows that things have changed, and they’re not sure why or how, but they feel the weight of it. There’s a sense of separation here, as the speaker watches the person they love move on in some way, possibly into a new part of their life that the speaker isn’t a part of anymore. The exclamation, “God, my heart,” shows just how much this change is hurting them.
This reminds me of the feeling in Bishop’s “The Man-Moth,” when the character faces the truth of his struggles. Bishop writes, “He keeps his hands in his pockets as he climbs, / afraid of his own vulnerability.” The Man-Moth, like the speaker in the song, is trying to keep moving forward, even though it’s hard and painful. The speaker in the song is dealing with this new distance in the relationship, but they’re still holding onto their emotions, even though it hurts.
Main Takeaways And Poetic Throughlines
One of the biggest themes in “AWARDS SEASON” is emotional endurance and the struggle to stay strong through tough times. Right from the start, Vernon sings, “I can handle / Way more than I can handle,” which is such a raw way of saying that he’s pushing himself beyond his limits. It reminds me of Elizabeth Bishop’s “The Man-Moth,” where her character tries to reach for the moon, always falling short but never giving up.
Bishop writes, “He thinks the moon is a small hole at the top of the sky,” symbolizing that unreachable goal we all chase. It’s similar to how Vernon opened up in his recent New Yorker interview, admitting the emotional toll performing takes on him. The pressure to keep going, to always “handle” more, is something he faces both on stage and in life.
Another theme that runs through the song is transformation—the idea that pain can eventually lead to something better. Vernon captures this in the line, “What was pain now’s gained / A new path gets laid.” He’s reflecting on how those painful experiences have shaped him, much like George Barker’s “To My Mother” showing how love, even after loss, comes back changed. It’s a similar sentiment to what Vernon shared about how he processes his emotions through his music.
In that same New Yorker interview, he talks about how his music is deeply personal, often reflecting his own emotional journeys. “AWARDS SEASON” feels like part of that journey—turning pain into something valuable, something that leads to growth.
Finally, there’s this sense of accepting that life is always in flux. Vernon sings, “What can wax can wane / Things can get replayed,” which is such a straightforward way of saying that everything is temporary. It reminds me of Louis MacNeice’s “Snow,” where he talks about how unpredictable the world is: “The world is crazier and more of it than we think.” There’s a beauty in that unpredictability, just as there’s a certain beauty in the changes Vernon is singing about.
In his interview, Vernon mentions how he’s considered stepping away from the spotlight, wrestling with the ups and downs of fame, which fits this theme of things constantly shifting. He’s learned to accept that nothing stays the same forever, and “AWARDS SEASON” really leans into that—life, love, and emotions are all part of this ongoing cycle, always changing, always moving forward.
Will Vance is a professional music producer who has been involved in the industry for the better part of a decade and has been the managing editor at Magnetic Magazine since mid-2022. In that time period, he has published thousands of articles on music production, industry think pieces and educational articles about the music industry. Over the last decade as a professional music producer, Will Vance has also ran multiple successful and highly respected record labels in the industry, including Where The Heart Is Records as well as having launched a new label with a focus on community through Magnetic Magazine. When not running these labels or producing his own music, Vance is likely writing for other top industry sites like Waves or the Hyperbits Masterclass or working on his upcoming book on mindfulness in music production. On the rare chance he's not thinking about music production, he's probably running a game of Dungeons and Dragons with his friends which he has been the dungeon master for for many years.
