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Blowin in The Wind

The song 'Blowin' in the Wind' by Bob Dylan is a protest song that asks rhetorical questions about peace, war, and freedom. It questions how long societies will accept war and discrimination before pursuing peace and equality, with the answers said to be 'blowin' in the wind'.

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20 views

Blowin in The Wind

The song 'Blowin' in the Wind' by Bob Dylan is a protest song that asks rhetorical questions about peace, war, and freedom. It questions how long societies will accept war and discrimination before pursuing peace and equality, with the answers said to be 'blowin' in the wind'.

Uploaded by

anna andriulo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Blowin’ in the Wind

WRITTEN BY: BOB DYLAN


“Blowin’ in the Wind” is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962. It is a protest song
that raises rhetorical questions about peace, war and freedom. Dylan borrowed the tune
from the anti-slavery spiritual Auction Block, a song that can be traced back at least as far
as the Civil War, and probably goes back much further.

How many roads must a man walk down


Before you call him a man?
Yes, ’n’ how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, ’n’ how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind

How many years can a mountain exist


Before it’s washed to the sea?
Yes, ’n’ how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, ’n’ how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn’t see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind

How many times must a man look up


Before he can see the sky?
Yes, ’n’ how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, ’n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind
STANZA 1
It was believed that a boy can become a man only after going to war, but Dylan disagrees
with this belief and asks ‘how many roads’, how many times a person has to fight wars so
that he may be called a man. Dylan is criticizing society because it demands too much
from a person. Then he asks another rhetoric question ‘how many seas must a white
dove sail‘. The dove is a symbol of peace, so Dylan is asking how many times we have to
fight the war before achieving peace. Sleeping in the sand refers to the fact that there is
no war.
In the third line. the poet asks how many times we will use the weapons before they
are totally banned. In other words, the poet says that we have fought too many wars and
we should stop fighting now.
The poet says that the answer to all these questions questions lies in the winds. He is
convinced that there is an answer, but the problem is that nobody troubles to quest for
those answers.
STANZA 2
‘how many years can a mountain exist’: the mountain symbolises the pride and ego of
those who desire war. According to the poet, the desire for the war will sink into the sea
someday. In the second couplet, there is a reference to the African Americans who were
discriminated in spite of living in ‘free’ country. He makes a difference between exist and
live. Those people exist but they don’t live because they are not free. In the third couplet,
the poet wonders how many times the good men will ignore the injustices that they see
around them. Dylan is waiting for the day when the people will raise their voice against
discrimination instead of pretending that there is no inequality. The answer is always the
same.
STANZA 3
‘sky‘ represents ‘freedom’, so he wonders how many times men will have to face the wars
to gain freedom and liberty.
In the second couplet, he wonders how long the government will remain deaf of people’s
sorrows against war and in favour of peace. In the third couplet, he wonders when the
government will realise that too many people have died because of war and it should be
stopped now.

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