19 pages • 38 minutes read
Bob DylanBlowin' in the Wind
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1962A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Wind as a Symbol for Change
Wind symbolizes change, and Dylan juxtaposes the wind with the horrendous norms of the world. That is, he places the wind side by side with the cruel conventions to highlight the differences. The world is cruel; it is full of inequality, indifference, and death. The wind, though, is free. It blows without restrictions and can, hypothetically, knock down the bulwarks of brutality. The wind is “[t]he answer” (Lines 7-8, 15-16, 23-24). To change the world, people should consult the wind. They should align themselves with the wind, blow away the longstanding abominations and clear a path for progress.
As the wind is quite abstract, the change that the wind symbolizes is not specific. Based on the historical context, the wind symbolizes the changes brought by the civil rights movement. They had momentum—they harnessed the wind and challenged racist norms like segregation and disenfranchisement. The modern reader might give the wind a different symbolism: perhaps the fight against anti-gay bias, anti-trans laws, prejudice toward Muslims, or sexism. By making the wind the answer, Dylan makes a symbol that can fit any number of issues.
Cannonballs as a Symbol for War
The cannonballs symbolize war and the number of years that war has plagued human society. Cannonballs became a part of warfare in the 1300s. Since then, wars and their weapons have become deadlier, with machine guns, missiles, bombs, and weapons of mass destruction. Dylan was born in 1941, during World War II—the most deadly war in history, killing over 50 million people. After the war, two allies, the United States and the Soviet Union, became enemies. As each country began to amass nuclear weapons, ordinary people worried about the increasingly real possibility of mass destruction. When Dylan wrote “Blowin’ in the Wind,” the United States had engaged in another deadly war, this time in Vietnam. The continuous wars make the speaker wonder when they will be “forever banned” (Line 6). The speaker says, “[T]oo many people have died” (Line 22). The cannonballs represent the lethal wars and their agonizing death tolls. Through cannonballs, the speaker links the past to the present. They show how war has been around for ages.
The Sky as a Symbol for Change, Peace, and Religion
The speaker wonders, “How many times must a man look up / Before he can see the sky?” (Lines 17-18). As the sky is vast, it can symbolize multiple things. One possibility is religion. The sky represents the heavens, or God. People should look to the sky because they should take guidance from religion. They should not use religion to sow discord or inequality but to create peace. In the Old Testament and the Torah, God gives Moses a set of critical principles: the Ten Commandments. One of the orders is, “Thou shall not kill.” In the poem, there are massive deaths. If people looked to the sky, thought of God, and followed God’s words, they would stop killing.
Here, the sky merges with the wind: it is a vehicle for change. People should look to the sky like they should follow the wind. Thus, more generally, the sky symbolizes change. It represents a different perspective. Instead of looking at the same thing, people should “look up” (Line 17), and maybe a fresh perspective can change a person’s actions.
The sky can also represent peace, either linked to religion and the commandment not to kill, or because the sky is part of nature, separate from humans and part of another law. It is above humanity’s killing and injustice—harmonious and apart.
