Tangled Up in Grief: Bob Dylan's Songs of Separation

Abstract

This article argues that much can be learned about the ways in which individuals grieve through a careful analysis of the presentation of loss in creative fiction, especially in terms of unconscious and uncensored responses presented indirectly through figurative language and structural patterns. It takes Bob Dylan's collection of songs about the anguish caused by lost love, Blood on the Tracks, as an example. An examination of the songs included in, and some rejected for, the album reveals developing responses to grief resulting from relationship breakdown, including the search for the absent one and for reconciliation; the intrusion of deep pain into everyday situations; the problem of infidelity and guilt; the attempt to reach a more detached perspective; the consequences of the pain becoming unbearable; and the attempt at a kind of closure. Taken together, the songs reveal how complex and contradictory responses to the agony of loss can be.

The function of the immune system according to The Other Side of Bob Dylan

“…In preparation of the class on the immune system, two relevant fragments were found on the album “ The other side of Bob Dylan ”, released more than 50 years ago, on August 8, 1964 by Columbia Records. Over the years, the lyrics of Dylan have been studied by scholars from various disciplines such as historical, political, theological but never before from an immunological point of view. A detailed analysis of the lyrics of this album (http://bobdylan.com/) shows that in fact ‘’ The other side of Bob Dylan’’ is an immune concept album, which will be argued below.…”