Previously published: Bob Dylan and Stephen Crane (part I)
by Larry Fyffe
In the onomatopoeic lines below, though he be influenced by the neo-Romantic sentiments of Friedrich Nietzsche, and the dark tenets of anti-Romanic Naturalism of modernist writers, the poet alludes to biblical scripture:
Black riders came from the sea There was clang and clang of spear and shield The clash and clash of hoof and heel (Stephen Crane: Black Riders)
Poetry, full of irony, that has an obvious effect on musician/singer/songwriter Bob Dylan:
Something came up out of the sea Swept through the land of the rich and the free (Bob Dylan: 'Cross The Green Mountain)
The biblical allusion is to the Egyptian, Babylonian, and Assyrian invaders of northern and southern Israel:
Which were clothed with blue Captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men Horsemen riding upon horses (Ezekiel 23: 6)
In the following poem, the futility of war is expressed, though it’s in vain:
I saw a man pursing the horizon Round and round he sped I was disturbed at this I accosted the man "It is futile", I said "You can never - " "You lie", he cried And ran on (Stephen Crane; I Saw A Man )
A cynicism found below in song lyrics:
Beyond the horizon, in the springtime or the fall Love waits forever, for me and for all Beyond the horizon, across the divide Around about midnight, we'll be on the same side (Bob Dylan: Beyond The Horizon)
https://youtu.be/NGfk0jdCQwk
The Modernist poet tosses in a slip of Sigmund Freud:
I stood upon a highway And, behold, there came Many strange pedlars To me each one made gestures Holding forth little images, saying "This is the pattern of my God Now this is the God I prefer" (Stephen Crane: I Stood Upon The Highway)
The male poet is not alone:
A narrow fellow in the grass Occasionaly rides You may have met him, did you not His notice sudden is (Emily Dickinson: A Narrow Fellow In The Grass)
Given an explicit twist in the song lyrics beneath:
Black rider, black rider, hold it right there The size of your cock will get you nowhere I'll suffer in silence, I'll make not a sound Maybe I'll take the high moral ground (Bob Dylan: Black Rider)
Said less bluntly in reference to divided Israel in the Holy Bible:
For she doted upon their paramours Whose flesh is as the flesh of asses And whose issue is like the issue of horses (Ezekiel 23: 20)
One final example of existential angst on the part of the poet:
I looked here I looked there No where could I see my love (Stephen Crane: I Looked Here, I Looked There)
Echoed in the song lyrics below:
Has anybody seen my love Has anybody seen my love I don't know Has anybody seen my love (Bob Dylan: Tight Connection To My Heart)
What else?
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