Bob Dylan is a famous singer/songwriter who recently won the 2016 nobel prize for literature. His songs have incredible meaning and in this explication I shall be analyzing one entitled, “I Shall Be Released”. Dylan uses poetic devices such as repetition, oxymoron, and double entendre to demonstrate the isolation the speaker feels while he is imprisoned. The first four lines alone give me the impression that the speaker is trapped in some way because “Yet ev’ry distance is not near”, is likely talking about the speaker’s release from somewhere, “ev’ry distance is not near” as in every opportunity for the speaker is distant and unattainable. The lines “So I remember ev’ry face, Of ev’ry man who put me here” clue me into imprisonment rather
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These lines demonstrate that nothing is safe where this speaker is. The ‘protection’ could be protection for the mind or for the body and I think that this is a double entendre and the dual meaning is absolutely purposeful. People will initially, solely, think protection for the body if they gather the prison meaning that I have, however, the next two lines clued me into a sort of mental protection. “Yet I swear I see my reflection, Some place so high above this wall”, seems to allude to theism and the thought of a higher power. The speaker sees possibilities and hope in the though of a god and something beyond that wall, however, an overwhelming amount of belief and false hope could lead to crippling depression after he gets rejected for parole each time. This is quite common in convicts as well, which may be why he is being told to get protection, because others have gone through these horrid events before. The stanza ends with “I see my light come...I shall be released”, just like the other three and still has the meaning of the speaker waiting day after day for release, however, a layer of mental and physical turmoil has been added. This stanza still supports my imprisonment theory but has not yet touched on the feeling of isolation that I believe that this speaker feels.
The last stanza of “I Shall Be Released” starts with,
“Standing next to me in this lonely crowd
Is a man who swears he’s not to
These lines demonstrate that nothing is safe where this speaker is. The ‘protection’ could be protection for the mind or for the body and I think that this is a double entendre and the dual meaning is absolutely purposeful. People will initially, solely, think protection for the body if they gather the prison meaning that I have, however, the next two lines clued me into a sort of mental protection. “Yet I swear I see my reflection, Some place so high above this wall”, seems to allude to theism and the thought of a higher power. The speaker sees possibilities and hope in the though of a god and something beyond that wall, however, an overwhelming amount of belief and false hope could lead to crippling depression after he gets rejected for parole each time. This is quite common in convicts as well, which may be why he is being told to get protection, because others have gone through these horrid events before. The stanza ends with “I see my light come...I shall be released”, just like the other three and still has the meaning of the speaker waiting day after day for release, however, a layer of mental and physical turmoil has been added. This stanza still supports my imprisonment theory but has not yet touched on the feeling of isolation that I believe that this speaker feels.
The last stanza of “I Shall Be Released” starts with,
“Standing next to me in this lonely crowd
Is a man who swears he’s not to