Analysis Of Leonard Cohen's Famous Blue Raincoat

Leonard Cohen’s “Famous Blue Raincoat” uses references from the song “Lili Marlene” which deepen and affect the overall tone of “Famous Blue Raincoat” by portraying Lili Marlene as the perfect woman, while we compare her to the character of Jane. This comparison shows the readers how badly affected the narrator is by Jane and her love triangle, thus, the reason for the narrator feeling betrayed and in his gloomy letter to the brother character. We see that this intertextual use is deepening the meaning of the overall tone of the poem by showing us the pain of losing something you love. The reference is also showing us misery and loneliness felt by the characters as well as emphasizing the conflicting emotional state of the brother figure and the narrator. If this reference did not really exist, we would not interpret the poem in the same perspective. That being said, the most significant effect of the reference to …show more content…
If we went to read the poem without the reference song, we would still see it as a saddening poem, however, we would not be able to compare Jane’s disloyal actions to the faithfulness of Lili Marlene. We read “And you treated my woman to a flake of your life, and when she came back she was nobody’s wife” (16-17) We interpret that Jane has betrayed her husband with another man and she is now no longer anybody’s wife. We still read these verses in a somber tone, but we do not get a perfect image of a woman to compare to in order to make it more effective. Comparing Jane to Lili Marlene, we can feel the heartbreaking tone of the poem more profoundly than if the reference song “Lili Marlene” did not exist. Furthermore, by reading the reference song, we read it with a meaning of true love and see the perfectness of Lili Marlene that we can compare to the somber poem of “Famous Blue Raincoat” and to the imperfect Jane