Bob Dylan and Thomas Hardy, part XVIII

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by Larry Fyffe

In the alliterative  poem – partially quoted beneath -, Thomas Hardy laments the passing of a loved one, and with it any hope he had of a caring Universe – Charles Darwin, he ain’t helping:

I thought her behind my back
Yea, her I long had learned to lack
And I said: "I am sure you are standing behind me ..."
I would not turn my head to discover
That there was nothing in my belief
(Thomas Hardy: The Shadow And The Stone)

A sentiment of sorrowful regret expressed in the following alliterative song lyrics:

As I walked out tonight in the mystic garden
The wounded flowers were dangling from the vine
I was passing by yon cool crystal fountain
Someone hit me from behind
Ain't talking, just walking
Though this weary world of woe
(Bob Dylan: Ain't Talking)

As the lyrics below indicate, as least to the author thereof, the optimistic outlook of life-everlasting, a characteristic theme of  the Romantic Transcendentalist poets, fades away in these modern times, the focus of which is on science and technology:

That I could think trembled through
His happy good-night air
Some blessed hope, whereof of he knew
But I was unaware
(Thomas Hardy: The Darkling Thrush)

The image of shadows of stones echoes in the following sardonic song lyrics, alliteration abounding:

There's nothing to see
Just a cool breeze that's encircling me
Let's go for a walk in the garden
So far and so wide
We can sit in the shade by the fountain-side
(Bob Dylan: False Prophet)

The alliterative lines beneath reveal that Fredrich Nietzsche’s lament that “God is dead” just won’t go away:

But since I was framed in your first despair
The doing without me has no play
In the minds of men where shadows scare
And now that I dwindle day by day
(Thomas Hardy: A Plaint Of Man)

Akin to the view that the singer/songwriter quite consistently holds to ; rhymed be ~ ‘play’/’day’ above; ~ ‘day’/’away’ below:

We are living in the shadows of a fading past
Trapped in the fires of time ...
One more day is another day away
From the girl from the Red River shore
(Bob Dylan: Red River Shore)

 

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