“All that’s Known” from Spring Awakening

Erick Lorinc
Warning students of school
All that's known, in History, in Science; overthrown, at school, at home, by blind
men.
You doubt them and soon they bark and hound you, till everything you say is just
another bad about you.
All they say is "Trust in What is Written". Wars are made and somehow that is
wisdom.
Thought is suspect, and money is their idol, and nothing is okay unless it's scripted
in their Bible.

Convince them of your self-belief and rightness

But I know there's so much more to find just in looking through myself and not at
them. Still, I know to trust my own true mind and to say: there's a way through
this.
On I go to wonder and to learning. Name the stars and know their dark returning.
I'm calling to know the world's true yearning.
The hunger that a child feels for everything they're shown.

Ask for attention of class

You watch me. Just watch me. I'm calling and one day all will know.

Beg for attention of class

You watch me. Just watch me. I'm calling, I'm calling
Give up
and one day all will know.
 Building an Active Dramatic Structure for Erick Lorinc
“All That’s Known” from Spring Awakening

I think this song is about rebellion. The character is going against the
school’s system and convincing others of its flaws.
The character is a middle-aged teacher Mr. Johnston who’s been teaching a
small U.S. History class at a high school for a long time. He’s average looking,
not fat or skinny, and he’s pretty healthy. His whole life has basically been about
teaching. He doesn’t have a wife, kids, or anything. He is talking to his students;
they are all pretty much the same when it comes to class. They’re usually just
listening to whatever he says and learning it.
In the moment before this one he is getting fired for not teaching exactly
what the curriculum says to. This causes him to snap and preach to his students
about the school system’s bad ways. He goes back to the classroom to teach his
last class and decides to tell his students his new opinions on how the school is
handling things. So, his goal is to convince the student’s that he’s right that the
school is wrong in firing him.
The main problem he has is that he’s having trouble getting the kids to listen
and understand what he’s saying. To get their attention he resorts to warning them
about the dangers of school which gets there attention so he tries convincing them
of what he thinks. That loses their attention so he asks for their attention and even
begs them to listen. But at the end of every tactic except the first, they just don’t
care or listen.
In the end he loses the scene. The kids just ignore him and he just gives up.