‘Hymn to Virgil’ by Hozier - Lyrics & Meaning

First teased during a 2023 interview for YouTube, Hozier finally released the full version of ‘Hymn to Virgil’ on December 6th, 2024, as part of his Unreal Unearth: Unending project.

The expanded version of 2023's widely celebrated Unreal Unearth project serves as a compilation of all the offshoots from this era, including Hozier's Unheard and Unaired EPs.

‘Hymn to Virgil’ serves as the final piece of the puzzle from this body of work, which is loosely based on Dante's The Divine Comedy. This offering finds Hozier stepping into the shoes of Dante, who has just made it through the circles of Hell and stands on the precipice of Heaven, but decides to remain in Hell, because Virgil cannot leave. This Virgil is based on the epic Roman poet of the same name. Hozier performed the live debut of ‘Hymn to Virgil’ during his 2024 Australia tour.

Hozier has never been afraid to explore left-field textures and test unusual sonics, but even so, ‘Hymn to Virgil’ represents one of the Irish singer-songwriter's more experimental odes. The atmospheric, emphatic composition combines with Hozier's haunting vocals to create a grandiose ambience fitting for the final chapter in this tale.

The ‘Too Sweet’ hitmaker stretches and moulds his voice enchantingly to mirror the turmoil of the journey, with Hozier even distorting his voice at various points. The juxtaposition between this deep growl and the soaring, ethereal hook seemingly represent the intersection between Hell and Heaven, which is where ‘Hymn to Virgil’ takes place.

“If I held in my hands everything gold could buy
I'd still not have a thing worth giving you
You tell me the sun is shining in paradise
And I have to watch your lips turn blue”

Hozier adopts the perspective of Dante in ‘Hymn to Virgil’, with the protagonist having made it through the trials and tribulations that have been thrown his way during his lengthy quest. As he reaches his paradisal destination, it dawns on him that Virgil - who is deemed a pagan in Dante's Inferno, due to him existing before Christ - can never leave Hell. Given the fact that Virgil has just guided him through numerous dangers and perils, Dante can't bring himself to leave his friend behind.

In this verse, Dante explains to Virgil why he won't desert him, viscerally describing how he doesn't have the heart to soak up the sun in paradise while Virgil's “lips turn blue” in the icy depths of Hell. The ‘blue lips’ imagery could also symbolise death.

“I would burn the world to bring some heat to you
I would burn the world to bring some heat to you
I would burn the world to bring some heat”

Hozier croons passionately about the lengths this protagonist would go to in order to offer his friend some comfort, underlining how he'd watch the world burn if this is what it takes.

“You are the reason I went through it, oh
The only meaning as I knew it, my-yeah
And I can only do my best, I do not do this for myself
I'd walk through hell on living feet for you”

Here, Hozier suggests that Virgil was doing more than simply leading him through Hell and helping him to avoid any hazards - rather, Virgil became Dante's purpose for completing the quest in the first place. Such is the strength of their bond, Hozier movingly sings that everything Dante did on this voyage was for Virgil.

“I wouldn't be seen walking through any door
Some place that you're not welcome to
You stare at the faces smiling from somewhere warm
From somе place the sunlight won't come through”

Hozier extends the contrast between the rejuvenating sunlight and warmth of Heaven and the hostile frost of Hell, painting a picture of Virgil looking yearningly at those who get to enjoy the dazzling pleasures of Heaven, while he is left to suffer in the shadows.

In a 2023 interview for YouTube, Hozier touched on the inspiration behind ‘Hymn to Virgil’, which at that time had not yet been released, “I had so many more [characters] that are in the...cutting room floor. There was a song called ‘Hymn to Virgil’, that was from Dante's perspective...There's this part where Virgil can't go to Heaven...so in that same way of in ‘Francesca’ trying to turn the punishment on its head, I had written this song that was Dante [not going] to Heaven, because how could he do that after he's just been walked through Hell by Virgil?”

Hozier expanded by questioning, “How would he leave his side after that? How would he accept those systems that he just walked through?”, before admitting that, even though in Dante's version of the story, he does walk through the door into Heaven, there's an alternate reading where “he doesn't accept the legitimacy of this place and he doesn't go on into purgatory, or he stays put and he says, ‘If you can't go, I won't go either’”. It captures the theme of limitless devotion that underpins a slew of Hozier stand-outs, such as ’Work Song’ and ‘Would That I’.

“If I held in my hands everything gold could buy
I'd still not have a thing worth giving you
You tell me the sun is shining in paradise
And I have to watch your lips turn blue

-

I would burn the world to bring some heat to you
I would burn the world to bring some heat to you
I would burn the world to bring some heat

-

You are the reason I went through it, oh
The only meaning as I knew it, my-yeah
And I can only do my best, I do not do this for myself
I'd walk through hell on living feet for you

-

I wouldn't be seen walking through any door
Some place that you're not welcome to
You stare at the faces smiling from somewhere warm
From somе place the sunlight won't come through

-

I would burn thе world to bring some heat to you
I would burn the world to bring some heat to you
I would burn the world to bring some heat

-

You are the reason I went through it, oh
The only meaning as I knew it, my-yeah
And I can only do my best, I do not do this for myself
I'd walk through hell on living feet for you

-

I would burn the world to bring some heat to you
I would burn the world to bring some heat to you
I would burn the world to bring some heat”

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