Bob Dylans - Blowing in the Wind

Bob Dylans Blowing in the Wind

2.1.1. The songs History
The inspiration for this song is believed to have come to Bob Dylans mind one afternoon in
April 1962 , during a long political discussion with friends . As the conversation petered out
in silence , Dylan was suddenly struck by the thought that there were severe problems in the
U.S.A. of his time ,the Western world , respectively.
He had known this for a long time then and expressed his opinion towards the matter of the
civil rights movement both as an artist and as an activist going out on the street . What he
suddenly realized , however , was that the general public refused to see what was going
wrong.. As he puts it: The people in power refuse to look at what is happening. And the
others , they ride the subways and read the Times, but they dont understand. They dont
know. They dont even care and thats the worst of it . 17693kvq53ftz8r
This frustration is expressed in his probably best known song Blowing in the wind.
The title already suggests that people do not care to give an answer or a solution to the
enormous problems . At the same time , the poem aims at making people open their eyes to
the obvious problems of these times such as fully integrating blacks and women into society.
2.1.2. Analysis
The poets objective is reflected in the structure of the poem. vt693k7153fttz
The poem consists of three stanzas , each of nine lines . Every stanza is structured the same
way : in the first six lines Dylan is asking three rhetorical , almost unanswerable questions .
The question phrases always start with the same words (... How many ... ) , Dylan chose
this parallelism as a stylistic device to put all emphasis on the questions asked , for the
answer , as it is stated in the last three lines of each stanza , is ...Blowing in the wind
anyway .
Within his stanzas , Bob Dylan moves from the general to the particular . His first stanza
begins with a strong opening image of a man walking down a road , which clearly relates to
the civil rights marchers. Using the image of a white dove in the second question again
reminds the reader of the civil rights movement. The activists were often referred to as
doves , and of course everyone knew that a white dove was and still is a symbol for peace.
In Dylans eyes, people do not care about these symbols .It is not foreseeable when the
dove and the man will eventually reach their aim. The Public did not even see their
necessity , as they closed their eyes to the horrible state the world is in . Dylan ,on the other
hand, illustrates that he sees no point in fighting and cannot understand , that cannonballs
are still flying , that nobody sees a point in banning them .
As the Vietnam War is about to begin , those lines especially refer to the Vietnam War , but
not solely , because Vietnam is not explicitly mentioned. This song is vague and all-

encompassing and therefore it can be applied to almost any freedom issue ,at any time . Still
, some metaphors and images clearly stem from the 60s .It is not absolutely necessary,
though , to know them to get the message of this song.
Stanza N2 starts off with the metaphor of a mountain being washed into the sea . Dylan
chose this image because it is almost impossible to imagine the time it will take until a
mountain will finally be washed into the sea. This mountain is compared to the , in the
authors eyes, racist materialist , imperialist and repressive American society . It will take
exactly the same time to open societys eyes to liberal ideas as it takes to wash down the
mountain. Dylan implicitly wants to encourage the civil rights movement to keep on trying to
make the U.S.A. a better place to live in , even if it will take an almost unimaginable long
time .
As in the first stanza his second and third question are more straightforward than his
philosophically disguised questions before. He then moves to the oppression of some people
(... allowed to be free...) . The following lines connect to his idea that made him write
Blowing in The Wind : he accuses the general public of turning their heads and pretending
not to see what is going wrong .
In the third stanza the author appeals to the reader not to remain in his / her lethargy , but
to sharpen his / her senses to the evil of the world . This is emphasized by the application of
words relating to our senses :look /see ,ears/ hear and cry /hear .
The first question urges the reader to open his eyes in order to perceive his surroundings
clearly. He is to open his ears to the cries of the suppressed people and to finally realize that
too many have died in vain.
2.1.3 Dylans Appeal to the Reader
Dylan appeals to the readers common sense by asking these obvious questions. The point
Dylan wants to make is that the real problem concerning the above -mentioned questions is
not answering them but asking them. Most people, he points out ,do not care about those
problems and do not bother to ask such obvious questions .
Further more , the song is validating the concern of the youthful protest movement while
absolving them from the obligation to come up with absolute answers to the problems about
which they protested.
The main idea of this song is that there are no hard and fast answers , the first obligation is
to care. The way to answer those questions , said Dylan is by asking them. But lots of
people have to first find the wind.
2.1.4. Personal View
Personally , I think it is a great song , because , on the one hand it implicitly deals with the
topics young revolutionaries liked to hear about ( oppression of blacks , womens role in
society ) but on the other hand , because all statements are put generally , it can be applied
to any freedom issue at any time.

Rabindranath Tagores poem Govindas disciple is a moral fable that deals with the relation
between Govinda and his disciple Raghunath. It is a subtle critique of materialism that goes
by in the name of spiritual respect.

summary of the poem Govinda's Disciple By

Rabindranath Tagore
Govindas Disciple brings into focus the master-disciple relationship and shows us how the
master teaches values through living examples of painful experiences. Govinda Singh, one
of the founders of Sikh religion, sitting on a rock on the bank of river Jumna teaches his
disciple Raghunath the importance of material renunciation to achieve divine life.

The disciple presents a pair of gold bangles to his master. The master is not pleased at his
disciples gift. He wants to teach his foolish disciple that attachment to this metal is a serious
impediment to divine blessing. A disciple who seeks divine life is expected to possess
detachment from the material world. The master lets one of the bangles roll down into the
river. The panic-stricken disciple jumps into the water to recover the lost bangle. The master
spent the time reading scriptures. As the daylight faded, the disciple came up and begged
his master to help him spot the direction where the bangle fell to make yet another attempt.
To his shock, the master obliged him by throwing the other bangle to the same direction
where the first one fell.

This is how he teaches a lesson to his disciple and makes him realize that he was only
satisfying his ego and not showing real selfless regard for his guru. What is left unsaid is
more eloquent and effective. The abrupt end gives the reader a powerful message.

I think that one can examine the imagery used to describe the bangles the first time the guru
examines them when given by the student. An example of personification could be seen
when the diamonds darted shafts of light. The implication here is that the diamonds have
come to life, reflecting the severe love the student holds for the bangles, almost to value

them more than anything else. When Tagore writes that it slipped from his hand and rolled
down the bank., in this figure of speech, the idea of the object holding value is something
that brings out how the student viewed the object, explaining why he was destined to lose it.

Ozymandias Summary (Critical Guide to Poetry for Students)

Ozymandias is a sonnet composed by the Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and named for
its subject, with the Greek name of the Egyptian king Ramses II, who died in 1234 b.c.e. The
poem follows the traditional structure of the fourteen-line Italian sonnet, featuring an opening
octave, or set of eight lines, that presents a conflict or dilemma, followed by a sestet, or set of six
lines, that offers some resolution or commentary upon the proposition introduced in the octave.
The poem is conventionally written in iambic pentameter (that is, ten syllables per line of
coupled unstressed then stressed sounds), so the poems subject matter is framed both by the
structural and metrical constraints chosen by the poet.
The first-person narrator of Ozymandias introduces a conversation he has chanced to have
with a traveller from an antique land in line 1. The reader knows neither the identity of the
traveler nor the circumstances wherein the poet has encountered the traveler but may assume he
is a source of information about a strange and unfamiliar world.
The remaining thirteen lines of the poem quote verbatim the tale that the traveler has borne from
his trek into the desert. The intrepid explorer has encountered Two vast and trunkless legs of
stone, the vestiges of a statue in disrepair whose head lay as a shattered visage nearby.
Despite its broken state, the frown, the wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command of the
statues face bespeak its sculptors skill in capturing the vanity and self-importance of its subject.
The traveler remarks that the artist has well those passions read which yet survivethat is,
those indications of the subjects character, indelibly stamped onlifeless things: the hand that
mocked them, and the heart that fed.
The octave thus confronts the reader in its first movement with an ironic portrait of an ancient
monarch whose fame and stature have been immortalized in a static gaze that connotes
paradoxically both celebrity and dissolution. In the revelatory sestet which follows, the poet
posits, through the testimony of the traveler, the fate of vainglorious men. On the pedestal, he
finds written the great mans empty boast: My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings,/ Look on
my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Yet Nothing beside remains but ruin, a colossal Wreck, boundless and bare against the lonely
landscape of sand and cruel, penetrating sunlight. A double irony is at work; neither the great
man nor the work of the artist remains in credible shape to challenge or delight the imagination
of those who would encounter it. King and artisan, mover and maker, share the same destiny. The
poem ends with the reader/observers gaze fixed upon this pathetic legacy, contemplating his
own mortality.

Summary of 'King Canute'

In this poem William Makepeace portrays the insignificant power of a king in the presence of
God.The king realizes that only God is Almighty and man should worship only God.
In this ballad the poet narrates man's limited power compared to the all-powerful God.The king
realizes the futility of earthly glory and bows before the Almighty God.
In the first stanza the king reflects upon his actions, while walking by the sea-shore.Usually the king
was happy and gay merrily laughing.That day the king refused to laugh, or be comforted even by his
wife.The official was troubled, that the king's meal was the cause.The king told him that the dinner
was not the cause. Requesting to know the reason, the king replied that he was sick, tired and
weary.The king's armchair was brought, and he was seated comfortably. Recalling all his past
glories, the battles he had won: could be compared to no other glory. All this seemed to be in vain,
for then his sons sought his death. Hence he longed for peace and a silent death.
The Bishop's consoles reminded him of the Jewish captain Joshua, who commanded the Sun to stay
on upon the hill, and the Moon to stand still during the battle; whereupon these obeyed and the
battle was won.
King Canute questions the Bishop, if he too could do the same.Would the advancing waves on the
sea-shore obey his voice? The Bishop wrongly replied, that land and sea would obey him. So King
Canute turned toward the ocean, and commanded them to get back from the shores.The ocean
roared louder and the waves grew nearer, lashing on the shore. It then dawned upon king Canute
that he was not the Master of the Universe.The power of his kingdoms could not give him the power
over nature.
He then sternly commanded every man from thenceforth, to kneel only to God and worship and
praise God alone.He never wore the golden crown since that day.