[lit-ideas] Re: Implicatural Analysis of Dylan's "Tempest"

  • From: Donal McEvoy <donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: "lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 30 Nov 2013 22:11:13 +0000 (GMT)

Thanks for quoting from the song. I meant the album.

As to the song, it is a cliche of Dylan story-songs to describe them as 
'cinematic'. In this vein, the song 'Tempest' marks a first for Dylan where, in 
the part of Jim Dandy, there is a starring role for Mickey Rooney:
"Jim Dandy smiled
He never learned to swim
Saw the little crippled child
And he gave his seat to him"

D





On Saturday, 30 November 2013, 20:48, "Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx" <Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx> 
wrote:
 
In "Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction," _donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxx.uk_ 
(mailto:donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx)  asks:

>what does Mike think of 'Tempest'?

Geary does not display an opinion, but asks for clarification -- in logical 
terms: "p v q" -- i.e. "Tempest" as in 'in a teapot' or 'of the 'we are 
such  stuff as dreams are made of'. He indicates that his use of 'or' is what  
linguists call 'open-ended'.

>The "Tempest"?  As in a teapot? or of the "We are such stuff as  dreams 
are made of"? 

McEvoy refutes the "p or q" (p v q) by assimliating:

>I meant Bob Dylan's "Tempest".

For the record, below, _sans_ melodie.

The implicatural analysis should be provided by W. O., who also commented  
on the thread:

"The name of the state comes from the name of the river", and the "name of  
the river", Wikipedia has it, "comes from 

Messipi

-- the French rendering of the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe or Algonquin) name for  
the river, 

Misi-ziibi, which, in the vernacular (Anishinaabe, not French) means,  
"Great (or "Big", or "Long") River (or "Stream", or "Brook"). 

In addition to historical traditions shown by names, there are at least two 
other measures of a river's identity, one being the largest branch (by 
water  volume), and the other being the longest branch. Using the 
largest-branch  criterion, the Ohio (not the Middle and Upper Mississippi) 
would be the 
main  branch of the Lower Mississippi. 

Using the longest-branch criterion, the Middle  
Mississippi-Missouri-Jefferson-Beaverhead-Red Rock-Hellroaring CREEK  RIVER 
would be the MAIN branch. 

According to either school of thought, the Upper Mississippi from Lake  
Itasca, Minnesota to St. Louis, despite its name, would only be a secondary  
tributary of the final river flowing from Cairo to the Gulf of Mexico.

(As Geary comments, "The idea that a name follows the thing is otiose --  
Take 'stanene'. We have a name and yet not the thing". Geary is referring to  
the technical press recently being excited this week at the implications of 
an announcement by researchers at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory 
and  Stanford University, who predict that a material as yet unmade has 
high promise  for the next generation of computer chips. It’s a two-dimensional 
single layer  of tin atoms, which theory suggests will conduct electricity 
with 100%  efficiency at room temperature. Adding fluorine atoms could keep 
it working at  the temperature of boiling water. It may not have been made 
yet but it already  has a name, stanene, from the Latin for tin, stannum, 
plus the -ene ending from  graphene.).

While the Missouri River, flowing from the confluence of the Jefferson,  
Madison and Gallatin Rivers to the Mississippi, is the longest continuously  
named river in the United States, the serially named river known sequentially 
as  Hellroaring Creek, Red Rock, Beaverhead, Jefferson, Missouri, Middle  
Mississippi, and Lower Mississippi, as one continuous waterway, is the 
longest  river in North America and the third or fourth longest river on Earth. 

Its length of at least 3,745 mi (6,027 km)[citation needed] is exceeded  
only by the Nile, the Amazon, and perhaps the Yangtze River[7] among the 
longest  rivers in the world. The source of this waterway is at Brower's 
Spring, 
8,800  feet (2,700 m) above sea level in southwestern Montana, along the 
Continental  Divide outside Yellowstone National Park.

The Mississippi River is widely considered a convenient if approximate  
dividing line between the Eastern, Southern, and Midwestern United States and  
the Western U.S., as exemplified by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the 
phrase  "Trans-Mississippi", used for example in the name of the 1898 
Trans-Mississippi  Exposition held in Omaha, Nebraska.

Cheers,

Speranza

-----

The pale moon rose in its glory
Out on the Western  town
She told a sad, sad story
Of the great ship that went  down
It was the fourteenth day of April
Over the waves she  rode
Sailing into tomorrow
To a golden age foretold
The night was black with starlight
The seas were sharp and  clear
Moving through the shadows
The promised hour was  near
Lights were holding steady
Gliding over the  foam
All the lords and ladies
Heading for their eternal  home
The chandeliers were swaying
From the balustrades  above
The orchestra was playing
Songs of faded love
The watchman, he lay dreaming
As the ballroom dancers  twirled
He dreamed the Titanic was sinking
Into the  underworld
Leo took his sketchbook
He was often so inclined
He  closed his eyes and painted
The scenery in his mind
Cupid struck his bosom
And broke it with a snap
The  closest woman to him
He fell into her lap
He heard a loud commotion
Something sounded  wrong
His inner spirit was saying
That he couldn't stand here  long
He staggered to the quarterdeck
No time now to  sleep
Water on the quarterdeck
Already three foot deep
Smokestack was leaning sideways
Heavy feet began to  pound
He walked into the whirlwind
Sky splitting all  around
The ship was going under
The universe had opened  wide
The roll was called up yonder
The angels turned  aside
Lights down in the hallway
Flickering dim and  dull
Dead bodies already floating
In the double bottom  hull
The engines then exploded
Propellers they failed to  start
The boilers overloaded
The ship's bow split apart
Passengers were flying
Backward, forward, far and  fast
They mumbled, fumbled, and tumbled
Each one more weary  than the last
The veil was torn asunder
'Tween the hours of twelve and  one
No change, no sudden wonder
Could undo what had been  done
The watchman lay there dreaming
At forty five  degrees
He dreamed that the Titanic was sinking
Dropping to  her knees
Wellington he was sleeping
His bed began to  slide
His valiant heart was beating
He pushed the tables  aside
Glass of shattered crystal
Lay scattered  roundabout
He strapped on both his pistols
How long could he  hold out?
His men and his companions
Were nowhere to be  seen
In silence there he waited for
Time and space to  intervene
The passageway was narrow
There was blackness in the  air
He saw every kind of sorrow
Heard voices everywhere
Alarm-bells were ringing
To hold back the swelling  tide
Friends and lovers clinging
To each other side by  side
Mothers and their daughters
Descending down the  stairs
Jumped into the icy waters
Love and pity sent their  prayers
The rich man, Mister Astor
Kissed his darling  wife
He had no way of knowing
It'd be the last trip of his  life
Calvin, Blake and Wilson
Gambled in the dark
Not  one of them would ever live to
Tell the tale on the disembark
Brother rose up 'gainst brother
In every  circumstance
They fought and slaughtered each other
In a  deadly dance
They lowered down the lifeboats
From the sinking  wreck
There were traitors, there were turncoats
Broken backs  and broken necks
The bishop left his cabin
To help others in  need
Turned his eyes up to the heavens
Said, "The poor are  yours to feed"
Davey the brothel-keeper
Came out dismissed his  girls
Saw the water getting deeper
Saw the changing of his  world
Jim Dandy smiled
He never learned to swim
Saw the  little crippled child
And he gave his seat to him
He saw the starlight shining
Streaming from the  East
Death was on the rampage
But his heart was now at  peace
They battened down the hatches
But the hatches wouldn't  hold
They drowned upon the staircase
Of brass and polished  gold
Leo said to Cleo
I think I'm going mad
But he'd  lost his mind already
Whatever mind he had
He tried to block the doorway
To save all those from  harm
Blood from an open wound
Pouring down his arm
Petals fell from flowers
'Til all of them were  gone
In the long and dreadful hours
The wizard's curse played  on
The host was pouring brandy
He was going down  slow
He stayed right to the end and he
Was the last to  go
There were many, many others
Nameless here forever  more
They never sailed the ocean
Or left their homes  before
The watchman, he lay dreaming
The damage had been  done
He dreamed the Titanic was sinking
And he tried to tell  someone
The captain, barely breathing
Kneeling at the  wheel
Above him and beneath him
Fifty thousand tons of  steel
He looked over at his compass
And he gazed into its  face
Needle pointing downward
He knew he'd lost the race
In the dark illumination
He remembered bygone  years
He read the Book of Revelation
And he filled his cup  with tears
When the Reaper's task had ended
Sixteen hundred had gone to  rest
The good, the bad, the rich, the poor
The loveliest and  the best
They waited at the landing
And they tried to  understand
But there is no understanding
On the judgment of  God's hand
The news came over the wires
And struck with deadly  force
Love had lost its fires
All things had run their  course
The watchman he lay dreaming
Of all the things that can  be
He dreamed the Titanic was sinking
Into the deep blue  sea  


------------------------------------------------------------------
To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off,
digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html

Other related posts: