Blowin in the Wind - Essay Example

For many decades songs have been known to play a role in unifying people and assist them to express their emotion as well as moving towards a common action. Some songs have been marked as anthems for various generations due to the impacts that they created during those times.

Blowin in the Wind is a song that was released on 16th April 1962 by Bob Dylan. The song captivated the attention of the listeners s around the world. The song released during Vietnam War is preferred by people during chaos, confusion, and depression. The song raises concern about oppression, violation of human right as well as challenges that come with wars happening around the world. Bob uses literature techniques and rhetorical to pass his message on the impacts that come with war.

Bob Dylan formats his song into three stanzas each having rhetorical questions with a refrain end "blowin in the wind." All the questions raised by Dylan have a similar phrase so that people can come to a noticeable conclusion themselves. Bob uses the phrase how how many to signalized that there has been enough of a particular happening already and therefore, more discussion of the same topic cannot solve the existing problem. The song has a lot knowledge and enlightenment in front of people, however, it cannot be seen just the same as wind.

The beginning of the song Blowin' in the wind," Dylan ask the question "how many roads a man walk down before people can call him a man (Dylan 22). According to me, the issue that Dylan tries to bring out is that how much a man should endure before he is given respect. The question raised by the singer is also referring to the demonstrators who walk down the street to champion for respect as well as equity. The singer goes ahead and asks the question, "How many seas should a white dove sail before sleeping in the sand" (Dylan 27). Dylan uses white dove to symbolize peace that always lacks during a war. The singer also uses the phrase sleep in the sand to symbolize death that always happens during the war. The singer tries to pass a message that peace can never be witnessed in the world until fighting comes to an end.

Dylan first stanza of the song talks about flying cannon ball and ask when they will be forever banned. Here, the singer is proving that fighting cannot be used to resolve problems. Therefore, there is better mechanism that can be employed to handle conflicts hence there should be a ban on weapons used during a war. The singer then goes ahead and pose the question, "how many ears must people have before they can hear the cry?" the lyrics contain a powerful message. The singer is referring to the huge number of ignorant people who cannot realize that world is too small violence hence they keep on fighting causing a lot of pain as well as damage (Teresa 61). Dylan realized that people are doing so to make their way and be happy. I like the song because it touches on the sensitive issue of war that continues to take away people lives around the world and the call for soberness of solving problems before they can result in conflicts. Recently there has been an increase in the incidences of war around the world. There are incidences tribal wars, terrorism as well as different countries fighting each other. The issue of war touches me because I have lost friends and relatives during such times.

Work Cited

Dylan, Bob, and Jon J. Muth. Blowin' in the Wind. New York: Lark, 2013. Print. 22

Teresa R. How to Analyze the Music of Bob Dylan Ebook (downloadable Pdf). New York: ABDO Digital, n.d.. Print. 61