Like the speakers in most so-called dramatic monologues, they are duplicitous but in a way that the careful listener can see straight through.Īn example from outside Dylan’s work which may serve as a model is the narrator in Browning’s dramatic monologue ‘Up At A Villa, Down In The City’. These narrators are not to be taken at face value. I’ve tried to show that in many songs the speaker is not Dylan himself, and indeed may be somebody he wouldn’t want to be. Nevertheless I think it’s important to get away from those interpretations which assume each song is only about some trivial aspect of Dylan’s life – drugs or meeting Elvis, say. And of course meaning will often be personal for each listener, or perhaps arise from a transcendent beauty, or subtlety, created by the writing, making hopeless any attempt to pin it down. I’m sure there will be other, often better, interpretations. The focus is on meaning rather than style but I’m not claiming special insight into ‘the meaning’ of the songs. This, then, is an attempt to at least begin to plug what I see as a gaping hole. I can think of just a handful of sites and books I’ve found at all useful. Close, literary analysis is something which doesn’t appear much on the internet or in books on Dylan, yet I can’t imagine I’m alone in regretting this. I should say that the overall aim of the site is to present literary interpretations of Dylan’s lyrics. There’s a post on each song from New Morning, and I’ve begun to add posts on other albums. I’m glad you’ve found the site and hope you find at least some things in it worthwhile.

To be alone with you bob dylan