An ode to “Blowin’ In The Wind”
Blowin’ In The Wind by Bob Dylan is a beautiful piece of literature that conveys a message of peace, war, and freedom. It is a journey of self-realisation and illumination. The artist, with the tools of music and poetry combined, wants us to look upon our destructive deeds and help us realize our mistakes and silence.
Bob Dylan is a sensation in Pop music and culture. His writings and compositions are critically acclaimed and are widespread. He comments on social welfare and the mindset of people. He blends soothing acoustic symphonies with his poetry which intensifies the impact of the message he
wants to convey. His lyrics are unique and influence people to their core. As we see in the song Blowin’ In The Wind, he has made the use of various symbols and rhetorical questions to imprint his message in the listener’s soul such as, “How many times must the cannon balls fly, Before
they’re forever banned ?”, he questions the use and production of arms and ammunitions by people in the war despite knowing the amount of destruction they cause. Similarly, symbols like, “White Dove” symbolizing peace and the ”Sea” symbolizing the vast time required to achieve peace, are used. With the use of poetic devices such as stated above, Bob Dylan neither denies nor agrees to the current scenario. He simply quotes, “The answer is blowin' in the wind”, which single-handedly summaries the song. This line states that the answer is right in front of us, right inside us but we are not paying attention to it. The answer to all the questions is obvious yet we tend to ignore them.
This is the main theme of the song as the artist is using it again and again as a refrain to incept the idea of tranquility and self-introspection amongst the people. This art piece was written at the time of the Vietnam War, when the soldiers of the USA were fighting for Vietnam’s Democracy, as an anti-war song. As the war only brought pain and suffering to the country. According to me, Bob wants to say how much more do you want to see, experience, lose and destroy before you realize that war only brings loss and death. There is no benefit in war and ignorant nature. So, take a pause retrospect and find the answer within you. The song even comments on the superior people of the society by using the word “Mountain”. Some of the few significant rhetorical questions Bob mentions are, “How many years can some people exist Before
they’re allowed to be free ?”, “How many ears must one man have, Before he can hear people cry ?” and “How many deaths will it take till he knows, That too many people have died ?”. They all comment on the indifference of people towards suffering, destruction, and pain. The negligence of the fact that people have not yet gained freedom.
The most astonishing fact about this work of art is the use of music with poetry rather than simple poetry to spread the word. Poetry is itself a beautiful way to convey opinion but when combined with the music it influences the listener to the core. A song that is sung several times gets stuck in the mind, which may initiate the implementation of the message conveyed by that individual. On the other hand, poetry once read remains temporarily in our memory and thus, the purpose of it is lost.
A song channelizes a word into the brain more effectively and efficiently.
Bob Dylan writes and composes eye-opening, encouraging and eccentric songs. He mixes emotions and logic to prove his argument. The personality of his voice and the words conveys his message more effectively. He is surely one of the greatest songwriters of all times and Blowin’ In The Wind
is one of his greatest works.