Your Dictionary

"Your Dictionary" by XTC
Lyrics:
H-A-T-E 
Is that how you spell love in your dictionary 
K-I-C-K 
Pronounced as kind 
F-U-C-K 
Is that how you spell friend in your dictionary 
Black on black 
A guidebook for the blind 

Well now that I can see my eyes won't weep 
Now that I can hear your song sounds cheap 
Now that I can talk all your corn I'll reap 
I'm not so sure that Joey wed a Virgin Mary 
There are no words for me inside your dictionary 

S-L-A-P 
Is that how you spell kiss in your dictionary 
C-O-L-D
Pronounced as care 
S-H-I-T
Is that how you spelled me in your dictionary 
Four-eyed fool 
You led 'round everywhere 

Now that I can see it's the queens new clothes 
Now that I can hear all your poison prose 
Now that I can talk with my tongue unfroze
I'm not so sure of Santa or the buck-tooth fairy 
There are no words for me inside your dictionary 

Now your laughter has a hollow ring 
But the hollow ring has no finger in 
So let's close the book and let the day begin 
And our marriage be undone

"Your Dictionary", written by guitarst/singer-songwriter Andy Partridge and performed by his band XTC, serves as something of a classic "anti-love" ballad. The poem explores the decline of a relationship and its emotional aftermath.

The central feature of the song is the titular refrain "Is that how you spell _____ in your dictionary." This sort of recurring symbol emphasizes what was likely a key contributor to the relationship's decline - miscommunication.There is a sense of confusion coming from the speaker, almost as if he wants to believe that when his partner communicated one thing, they meant another. This confusion is highlighted particularly by the sound of this refrain, particularly in combination with the repeated use of spelling out words. There exists a certain similarity in sound between each spelled-word and it's "is that how you spell" partner - "S-H-I-T" produces rhyme with "me", "K-I-C-K" starts with the same vowel sound as its partner "kind", and so on. These auditory similarities reproduce the feeling of communication becoming confused, as we begin to associate the spelled words with their incongruous counterparts.

Another major device to be noted is the author's use of anaphora in the even-numbered verses. Each of these stanzas leads with three lines each starting with the phrase "Now that I can see." These stanzas each transition out of one of the spelling-stanzas described above. If we read those stanzas as being a reproduction of the relationship as it felt in the moment, these stanzas each represent a shift to a retrospective view. Again, taking note of the auditory devices in the song, we may notice how these stanzas pick up in pace. Thus, while we understand the song to be ultimately lamentory, there is a certain sad liberation when the speaker can finally look at the relationship from the outside, seeing it for what exactly it was.

These stanzas also contain numerous allusions. The first (stanza 2) contains the interesting line "I'm not so sure that Joey wed the Virgin Mary", a clear allusion to the Christian Gospels but with the interesting edition of calling Joseph, "Joey." This diminutive serves to perhaps de-formalize Joseph, making him more relatable as a character and thus an easier candidate for metaphor. The next (stanza 4) makes a couple more interesting allusions - "the queen's new clothes" is a reference to "The Emperor's New Clothes", a story about an emperor who believed he was wearing fancy new clothes, when in fact he was wearing nothing at all. The stanza also references "Santa and the buck-tooth fairy", beings that one tends to believe in as a child but that one loses faith in as one loses one's innocence. These two references both elicit the idea of retrospect and disbelief communicated in these stanzas - the pedestal upon which the author apparently put his partner on now seems to be plainly unreal.