Song to Woody Analysis
An interesting aspect of this poem is that it can be read in couplets; though a few of the lines can be dissected separately, to understand the full meaning, the reader must look at the lines in groups of two’s.
“I’m out here a thousand miles from my home” is the opening line of the poem, and sets a picture for the reader. In the use of imagery, it depicts the idea of Bob Dylan being in a new place, as well as leading the reader to make the inference that he is having new experiences. Furthermore, as home is normally depicted as a safe, “comfort zone”, by writing that he’s “a thousand miles from [his] home,” the picture is given that he’s bursting out of his usual boundaries. This line flows into the next one, “Walkin’ a road other men have gone down.” This line gives the impression of “road” being a figurative term, Dylan expressing the fact that other people have gone under this journey of self-realisation. This line is connected to the 17th and 18th, which read, “I’m a-leaving’ tomorrow, but I could leave today,” and “Somewhere down the road someday.” This is a form of parallel, as Dylan first touches on the idea that he on the idea of a metaphorical road, or journey, for him to be embarking on, but ends the poem with the reintroduction of the term, this time speaking of the continuation of his journey, giving the impression that experience and self-realisation are a never-ending question. The third line in the poem says, “I’m seein’ your world of people and things,” where which the reader is given the first clue, save from the title, that the poem is written to another person. Upon reading the entire poem, we are told that the poem is for Woody Guthrie, and in the context of the third line, we can piece together than the quest Dylan is embarking on is one that Guthrie had also been on, many years before. Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan are both singer-songwriters who played a role in the initial shaping of patriotic folk songs with their use of political, social,
“I’m out here a thousand miles from my home” is the opening line of the poem, and sets a picture for the reader. In the use of imagery, it depicts the idea of Bob Dylan being in a new place, as well as leading the reader to make the inference that he is having new experiences. Furthermore, as home is normally depicted as a safe, “comfort zone”, by writing that he’s “a thousand miles from [his] home,” the picture is given that he’s bursting out of his usual boundaries. This line flows into the next one, “Walkin’ a road other men have gone down.” This line gives the impression of “road” being a figurative term, Dylan expressing the fact that other people have gone under this journey of self-realisation. This line is connected to the 17th and 18th, which read, “I’m a-leaving’ tomorrow, but I could leave today,” and “Somewhere down the road someday.” This is a form of parallel, as Dylan first touches on the idea that he on the idea of a metaphorical road, or journey, for him to be embarking on, but ends the poem with the reintroduction of the term, this time speaking of the continuation of his journey, giving the impression that experience and self-realisation are a never-ending question. The third line in the poem says, “I’m seein’ your world of people and things,” where which the reader is given the first clue, save from the title, that the poem is written to another person. Upon reading the entire poem, we are told that the poem is for Woody Guthrie, and in the context of the third line, we can piece together than the quest Dylan is embarking on is one that Guthrie had also been on, many years before. Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan are both singer-songwriters who played a role in the initial shaping of patriotic folk songs with their use of political, social,