On the first day of April 2017, the world woke up with the CNN headline, Bob Dylan Receives Nobel Prize in Literature in Sweden, written by Alex Stambaugh and Deanna Hackney. Dylan is the first songwriter to win the Nobel Prize in literature. Although, the news of him receiving the award has been circulating since last year, not everyone is yet convinced that a songwriter is deserving of such an award. Bob Dylan’s singing career started out with protest songs that resonated with the young people living during the Cold War. The Cold War has ended but his songs remain relevant. People continue to resonate with the messages in them because there is a new threat. The fear of apocalyptic war brought on by the nuclear threat and the growing need
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In the first stanza, he addressed the need for peace and cease fire that the people have been wanting. The lines that say “how many seas must a white dove sail / Before she sleeps in the sand?” (3-4) are a reference to Noah and the flood in the Bible. The white dove landing is a sign of hope, a sign that signals a new beginning. This is followed by the lines “how many times must the cannon balls fly / Before they are forever banned?” (5-6). This presents an awareness of the wars and the guns used to kill the innocent people. Those wars are what the people want to stop. They want to be able to have a fresh start in a world where they do not have to keep seeing guns going off and innocents dying. In the concluding stanza, Dylan came out without any euphemisms and metaphors to ask, “how many deaths will it take till he knows / That too many people have died?” (21-22). It is similar to many of the outcries found in today’s protests. People want to know when will the power-hungry leaders realize that enough is enough and that at this point, war is pointless and is simply hurting the world as
In the first stanza, he addressed the need for peace and cease fire that the people have been wanting. The lines that say “how many seas must a white dove sail / Before she sleeps in the sand?” (3-4) are a reference to Noah and the flood in the Bible. The white dove landing is a sign of hope, a sign that signals a new beginning. This is followed by the lines “how many times must the cannon balls fly / Before they are forever banned?” (5-6). This presents an awareness of the wars and the guns used to kill the innocent people. Those wars are what the people want to stop. They want to be able to have a fresh start in a world where they do not have to keep seeing guns going off and innocents dying. In the concluding stanza, Dylan came out without any euphemisms and metaphors to ask, “how many deaths will it take till he knows / That too many people have died?” (21-22). It is similar to many of the outcries found in today’s protests. People want to know when will the power-hungry leaders realize that enough is enough and that at this point, war is pointless and is simply hurting the world as