Irony Analysis

"A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall" - Bob Dylan

                Shifting from a dismal tone to a tone laden with eager determination in “A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall”, Bob Dylan utilizes personifying imagery, deliberate irony, and powerful paradox in order to show that struggles are different and plentiful around the world, and if everyone doesn’t work to help others, “a hard rain’s a gonna fall”.

                Throughout the entire song, the imagery provided by Dylan can be categorized as both sinister and personifying. He uses phrases such as “dead oceans”, “hunger is ugly”, and “a black branch with blood that kept drippin” to give lifeless, everyday objects human characteristics, which, in turn,  further seduces the listener into the dark, dismal place in which the hardships and difficulties of the world reside. By offering statements that contain ominous diction intended to portray this troubled world, Dylan exemplifies a universal concern and provides his own personal assurance that he will “tell it, and think it and speak it and breathe it/ and reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it”, meaning that he will do his best to assure that no suffering goes unnoticed.

                Although the imagery within the song develops a significant portion of the universal idea, Bob Dylan’s deliberate use of irony adds another whole dimension to the meaning. In the fourth line of his song, Dylan says, “I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways”, which contains two instances of irony: the first being the fact that highways are for ‘high’ speeds, and walking or crawling is not normally something one does on a highway. The second ironic aspect of this line is the part where Dylan describes it as crooked; whereas generally, highways are known to be straight. Adding this ironic twist so early on in the song serves to provide the listener with a glimpse into the position Dylan takes when it comes to his opinion about the issue being addressed later on in the song. Another ironic occurrence that presents itself in his song would be the line where he says that during his excursion, he “heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley”. As one might already know, clowns are intended to be jovial characters that provide laughter and fun for all; they are not typically known for crying alone in alley ways, which, when compared to the intrinsic values that are normally attributed to a clown, proves to be exceptionally ironic. The situational irony that is constructed from the highway and clown paradigms in Dylan’s song aid in the development of the deeper meaning of the song by giving examples of how things should be, but then in real life are falling to pieces, just like the rest of the world.

                The final device Dylan employs in his work is powerful paradox, which he uses to grab hold of the reader’s emotions and develop a vantage point that he draws on to guide them through the myriad of sentiments he himself is experiencing throughout the progression of the song. When he says in line seventeen that he “saw a thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken”, Dylan creates a paradoxical incident in the sense that people with broken tongues can obviously not speak, but there is another meaning that, when interpreted a certain way, could be construed as a way to say that although the people of the world usually have a lot to say, the current condition of the world has left them utterly speechless. Another illustration of paradox Dylan provides is in the line where he says that he “heard one person starve” and “many people laughin”. Here, he juxtaposes two completely opposite concepts that would not normally appear in a sentence together, but he creates the paradox by wording it so that the interpretation of the line could represent the ignorance shown by those who have little hardship towards those who live day to day carrying the weight of adversity on their shoulders.

                In brief, it can be said that through the utilization of imagery, irony, and paradox, Bob Dylan epitomizes the notion that struggles ensue around the globe, and in order to ease the suffering of others, we as a race must work as one to mitigate the hardships that inhabit the world before it is too late.

               

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall
Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin’
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’
I saw a white ladder all covered with water
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall
And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin’
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin’
Heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin’
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall
Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony
I met a white man who walked a black dog
I met a young woman whose body was burning
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow
I met one man who was wounded in love
I met another man who was wounded with hatred
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall
Oh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what’ll you do now, my darling young one?
I’m a-goin’ back out ’fore the rain starts a-fallin’
I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
Where the executioner’s face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten
Where black is the color, where none is the number
And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’
But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall