Bob Dylan: A Literary Genius

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live––Norman Cousins

Norman Cousins, American political journalist, author, professor and world peace advocate, believes that one faces many types of losses throughout their lifetime including death but the losses faced before death are much greater than death itself. Similarly, the song Ballad of Hollis Brown by Bob Dylan demonstrates this idea of lost hope for a solution before concluding to death. The song talks about a South Dakota farmer who is overwhelmed by the desperation and ends up killing his family of wife and five children and then himself as the only means of a solution. In this essay, I will discuss the many components pertaining to this song, including its historical background, the language and literary devices used, and the delivery and performance of the song.

Bob Dylan also known as Robert Allen Zimmerman, was born on May 24, 1941, in Minnesota, USA. Dylan has pursued many occupations such as singer, songwriter, artist and writer since the start of his career in 1959. He has also won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016. The song Ballad of Hollis Brown is recorded in 1963 and released in 1964 from the album The

Times They Are A-Changin'. The song was originally supposed to be a part of Dylan's previous album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. The album was Bob Dylan's first to embody all original compositions. The songs took a more political stance as compared to his previous albums as they talked about racism, poverty and social change, capturing the upheaval of the 1960s.

Ballad of Hollis Brown is a folk-blues song whose chords, tune and verse structure is derived from the song Pretty Polly. A ballad is a poem or a song that narrates a story in short stanzas, typically of unknown authorship that are orally passed from generation to generation. Having the term ballad in the title of the song is ironic as the Dylan consistently claims that there is no one who knows or cares about his plight; We can infer that there is, in fact, no one to orally pass the tale from one generation to the next. Ballad of Hollis Brown talks about the despair enraged by the breakdown of farming communities due to the Black Stem Rust outbreak that occurred in 1962 in the United States. Stem Rust is a disease caused by cereal crops when the crops are attacked by Fungi and are completely destroyed.

Dylan uses many literary devices to convey the plight of Hollis Brown during the Stem Rust outbreak. Dylan claims "You prayed to the Lord above Oh please send you a friend Your empty pockets tell yuh That you ain't a-got no friend" (Dylan Verse 5) in an attempt to question the existence of God. The statement helps us identify the difference between the beliefs of the people residing in rural places as opposed to urban places. We can often see that in rural neighbourhoods there are many more homes of God. God is seen as a symbol of hope for the people, making a statement that if God is for the poor and if the poor are the ones who respect its existence most, then why are they the ones suffering the most. Dylan connects these lyrics to the last lyrics of the song. He exclaims, "There's seven people dead On the South Dakota farm Somewhere in the distance There's seven new people born"(Dylan Verse 11). The statements demonstrate the concept of socio-political thriving. It displays the idea that the death of seven poor people is not a matter of concern to perhaps seven other people existing an urban setting. It is also interesting how Dylan quickly changes the perspective of Hollis Brown to God through the essence of birth and death. The existence of God throughout the song can also allow us to characterize Hollis Brown as a tragic hero who made the poor decision of expecting and relying on God for the family's survival and ultimately had to pay the price through the death of all the family members. Besides this, Dylan uses simile's in many of the verses. He says, "Your wife's screams are stabbin' you Like the dirty drivin' rain"(Dylan Verse 6) and "Seven shots ring out Like the ocean's pounding roar" (Dylan Verse 10). He uses the simile's to demonstrate the depth of the desperation. Dylan uses symbolism in Verse 8 by saying, "Way out in the wilderness A cold coyote calls Your eyes fix on the shotgun That's hangin' on the wall" (Dylan Verse 8). A coyote being the national animal of South Dakota essentially symbolizes that South Dakota is calling for being saved from the poor decision of self-destruction.

The eleven verse song, Ballad of Hollis Brown, allows the listeners to achieve a very different kind of emotion while listening to the song as opposed to reading the lyrics of the song. The performance of the song plays an integral part in conveying the emotion of desperation associated with the song. The song is very upbeat and fast and the words are very clear as it is lyrical. Having this kind of effect of an upbeat song with an important meaning creates satire between how serious Dylan really is in what he is trying to convey.

The song Ballad of Hollis Brown by Bob Dylan talks about the plight of the poor people in South Dakota during the Stem Rust outbreak that destroyed the crops, leaving farmers hungry and desperate for a solution. Dylan, a literary genius, uses many devices to convey the idea of the song including irony, symbolism, and simile. The song is a narrative and uses a certain number of syllables in each line. Dylan heavily focused on the rhyme scheme of his work due to which some believed that it took away from what he wanted to say. All in all, Dylan's song conveys an important idea of God through its heavy wording in light performance and delivery.

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Works Cited

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"Ballad Of Hollis Brown - Youtube". Youtube.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 9 Dec. 2016.

"Ballad Of Hollis Brown | The Official Bob Dylan Site". The Official Bob Dylan Site. N.p., 2016. Web. 9 Dec. 2016.

"Bob Dylan". En.wikipedia.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 9 Dec. 2016.

"Hollis Brown's South Dakota". The Celestial Monochord. N.p., 2016. Web. 9 Dec. 2016.

"Norman Cousins Quotes - Brainyquote". BrainyQuote. N.p., 2016. Web. 9 Dec. 2016.

"Stem Rust". En.wikipedia.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 9 Dec. 2016.