Quote:
Originally Posted by John Whitworth
I don't see how Dylan's lyrics will pass as literature without the music. There isn't a Nobel prize for music is there?
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, and 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
What do the third and fourth lines mean, if anything?
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You may be correct in your first comment, John. I think as concerns popular music, the lyrics and the musical accompaniment are contingent on each other.
I'm puzzled, however, by your question
What do the third and fourth lines mean, if anything? I wish I had a dollar for every time you've mentioned on these boards that the sound of a poem is by far the most important thing and that "meaning" is of little or no consequence. If I recall correctly, Wallace Stevens is your favorite American poet, and the "meaning" of his poems is often a puzzle to many readers. Stevens himself said he didn't know what some of his poems meant.
Richard