To me Dylan is all about duality. I have read this poem several times but did not know the literary references. Gates can keep you locked up or open a way in as he says when talking about his sculpture. The goddess and the whore, sin and redemption,
beauty and ugliness. This juxtaposition is his reoccuring artistic and poetic theme, and also a judgement of sorts in trying to reconcile the collision of opposites. His ongoing search to find his "twin" seems like he's seeking non duality at the same time. 🤷🏻♀️
You guys are all so smart and literary! Unfortunately I don't have that foundation.
I agree with you about the twin theme, Julie. On one hand, the Angel and Devil in the poem are Joanie and Bobby. But in another sense they're different sides of Dylan, like the old cartoons with an angel self on one shoulder and a devil self on the other. Early in the poem he writes, "I asked myself t' be my friend." Later, when he rejects heroes like Hank Williams, it's because the true battles can only be fought within: "But what I learned from each forgotten god / Was that the battlefield was mine alone."
These images of the shadow self as the friend within, but also the enemy within, reminds me of something Dylan said to Robert Shelton in 1978 for his biography. Referring to "Where Are You Tonight? (Journey through Dark Heat)," Dylan points Shelton to the lines "I fought with my twin, that enemy within / Until both of us fell by the way." He elaborated: “a man is his own worst enemy, just as he is his own best friend. If you can deal with the enemy within, then no enemy without can stand a chance.”
Dylan often sets up a contest between dueling opposites only to stake out a third position in between them. If I was a philosophy professor I might bring up Hegel's thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. But since I'm an English professor I think up different analogies like Heaven, Hell, and their Marriage. If I was a graphic artist, I might illustrate it with a picture like the one on the cover of The Philosophy of Modern Song. Like Dylan wrote in Chronicles, "I don’t know why the number 3 is more metaphysically powerful than the number 2, but it is."
Having set up his binary oppositions in "Poem to Joanie"--beauty and ugliness, angel and demon--Dylan stakes out a third position for himself near the end of the poem: "An' I'll walk my road somewhere between / The unseen green and the jet black train." You see this pattern a lot in Dylan. In my TOOM book, I referred to it as the Midlands Dylan travels back and forth across, in between the Highlands and the Lowlands.
He sets up a duality, but he can never stay put at one pole or the other for very long. His journey is a never-ending tour between them.
"I play both sides against the middle" he says. I will tread further to say it is his repeating thematic element in most of his songs of love that turns to hate though the initial attraction is to become one union.
What a great conversation between the two of you here! One of the reasons I so dearly love Dylan is just this theme. I've been thinking of it in terms of paradox, which to me is another way of saying that holding both sides can open a higher truth that transcends the separation. But Dylan is always true to the all-too-human pain or ecstasy of his humanity, he's intensely feeling whichever side of the duality is tugging at him in the moment, while recognizing the swing back can come at any time (he's sick of love but would give anything to be with her, he won't but then maybe again he might). Of course he also makes great use of wonderful expressions that encapsulate that conflict ("raging glory" comes to mind). But I imagine that his mystical side is related to his sense that these dueling opposites are synthesized on some plane ("the truth was obscure, too profound and too pure, to live it you had to explode" ?). Here's my experiential take (obviously not original, but deeply felt): in the music itself and in performance, singing and harmonica, he takes me to a higher or simply fuller place that reaches beyond the explicable. Thanks for shedding light on my experience of Dylan, both of you.
That's so interesting and I love your choice of lyrics. In this exchange I feel like I've just discovered a new artist named Bob Dylan. Your insights always shed light on something I glossed over even though I think I'm immersed. I'm just floating on the surface and you guys are scuba diving. Thanks as always.
Thanks, Julie. Graley is scuba diving (also hang gliding at the same time?), yet makes it so clear. I can only say what I feel, and I love "listening" to the two of you talk. There is always more Bob Dylan to discover.
Thank you Graley for always making Definitely Dylan's Patreon and Book Club so fun and informative. Your writing always makes wonderful connections to such a wide variety of sources, which I appreciate so much. You take me back my Western Civilization class in college which was jointly taught by a Literature, History, Philosophy, and Theology professor. What I wouldn't have given to have had you on my roster!
Just a quic note to thank you, again, for drawing our attention to this interesting poem! I will savor your post over the next few days.
To me Dylan is all about duality. I have read this poem several times but did not know the literary references. Gates can keep you locked up or open a way in as he says when talking about his sculpture. The goddess and the whore, sin and redemption,
beauty and ugliness. This juxtaposition is his reoccuring artistic and poetic theme, and also a judgement of sorts in trying to reconcile the collision of opposites. His ongoing search to find his "twin" seems like he's seeking non duality at the same time. 🤷🏻♀️
You guys are all so smart and literary! Unfortunately I don't have that foundation.
I agree with you about the twin theme, Julie. On one hand, the Angel and Devil in the poem are Joanie and Bobby. But in another sense they're different sides of Dylan, like the old cartoons with an angel self on one shoulder and a devil self on the other. Early in the poem he writes, "I asked myself t' be my friend." Later, when he rejects heroes like Hank Williams, it's because the true battles can only be fought within: "But what I learned from each forgotten god / Was that the battlefield was mine alone."
These images of the shadow self as the friend within, but also the enemy within, reminds me of something Dylan said to Robert Shelton in 1978 for his biography. Referring to "Where Are You Tonight? (Journey through Dark Heat)," Dylan points Shelton to the lines "I fought with my twin, that enemy within / Until both of us fell by the way." He elaborated: “a man is his own worst enemy, just as he is his own best friend. If you can deal with the enemy within, then no enemy without can stand a chance.”
Dylan often sets up a contest between dueling opposites only to stake out a third position in between them. If I was a philosophy professor I might bring up Hegel's thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. But since I'm an English professor I think up different analogies like Heaven, Hell, and their Marriage. If I was a graphic artist, I might illustrate it with a picture like the one on the cover of The Philosophy of Modern Song. Like Dylan wrote in Chronicles, "I don’t know why the number 3 is more metaphysically powerful than the number 2, but it is."
Having set up his binary oppositions in "Poem to Joanie"--beauty and ugliness, angel and demon--Dylan stakes out a third position for himself near the end of the poem: "An' I'll walk my road somewhere between / The unseen green and the jet black train." You see this pattern a lot in Dylan. In my TOOM book, I referred to it as the Midlands Dylan travels back and forth across, in between the Highlands and the Lowlands.
He sets up a duality, but he can never stay put at one pole or the other for very long. His journey is a never-ending tour between them.
"I play both sides against the middle" he says. I will tread further to say it is his repeating thematic element in most of his songs of love that turns to hate though the initial attraction is to become one union.
Bucket List:
1. Take a class with Graley Herren
What a great conversation between the two of you here! One of the reasons I so dearly love Dylan is just this theme. I've been thinking of it in terms of paradox, which to me is another way of saying that holding both sides can open a higher truth that transcends the separation. But Dylan is always true to the all-too-human pain or ecstasy of his humanity, he's intensely feeling whichever side of the duality is tugging at him in the moment, while recognizing the swing back can come at any time (he's sick of love but would give anything to be with her, he won't but then maybe again he might). Of course he also makes great use of wonderful expressions that encapsulate that conflict ("raging glory" comes to mind). But I imagine that his mystical side is related to his sense that these dueling opposites are synthesized on some plane ("the truth was obscure, too profound and too pure, to live it you had to explode" ?). Here's my experiential take (obviously not original, but deeply felt): in the music itself and in performance, singing and harmonica, he takes me to a higher or simply fuller place that reaches beyond the explicable. Thanks for shedding light on my experience of Dylan, both of you.
That's so interesting and I love your choice of lyrics. In this exchange I feel like I've just discovered a new artist named Bob Dylan. Your insights always shed light on something I glossed over even though I think I'm immersed. I'm just floating on the surface and you guys are scuba diving. Thanks as always.
Thanks, Julie. Graley is scuba diving (also hang gliding at the same time?), yet makes it so clear. I can only say what I feel, and I love "listening" to the two of you talk. There is always more Bob Dylan to discover.
Wonderful analysis. I truly enjoyed reading your thoughts… and I hadn’t looked at the liner notes in decades!
Thank you Graley for always making Definitely Dylan's Patreon and Book Club so fun and informative. Your writing always makes wonderful connections to such a wide variety of sources, which I appreciate so much. You take me back my Western Civilization class in college which was jointly taught by a Literature, History, Philosophy, and Theology professor. What I wouldn't have given to have had you on my roster!