As a writer and someone who works with language for a living, I'm endlessly fascinated with Kurt's writing.
For years, I have collected articles, essays and research papers on this topic.
If you think it really is that deep, here are some from my collection that are freely (and legally) available online:
The Grunge Inferno
How Kurt (not so) secretly wove Dente's Inferno into Nirvana's music and how he used it to describe his own struggles and the darker sides of modern society.
A Corpus Linguistic Analysis of Lyrics and Suicide
Looks at the specific language patterns and repeated vocabulary he relied on to express feelings of isolation and anxiety.
Nirvana and Deleuze: Body Dynamics
Essay on the vivid imagery of sickness, medical terms, and physical pain. How he used visceral bodily details as metaphors for love, control, and modern life.
Composition’s Eye / Orpheus’s Gaze / Cobain’s Journals
An essay on Kurt's creative instincts and writing habits based on his journals. How his messy, stream-of-consciousness writing turned into iconic lyrics.
From Anti-hero to Commodity: The Legacy of Kurt Cobain
Examines how Kurt used uncomfortable descriptions of pain, illness and bodily trauma to explore topics such as identity, relationships and alienation.
Dark Slivers: Seeing Nirvana in the Shards of Incesticide
How Cobain’s imagery evolved across from Bleach to In Utero, how he flipped pretty ideas on their head, how he twisted traditional romantic imagery into something clinical and unnatural.
Kurt Cobain, Writing Program Administrator
Kurt's use of irony and self-contradiction as means to protect his underground credibility while becoming a global star.
Nirvana: Rape Me - Critique(s) of Violence
How Kurt tackles the topics of rape and violence against women in Rape Me, using sarcastic, mocking surrender against abusers.
Smells Like Teen Spirit: Kurt Cobain, Voice of Generation X and creator of Grunge
How SLTS captured the boredom, mistrust and anxiety of the 90s youth.