IDEA OF HUMANISM IN THE ORDER FOR PEACE AS

REFLECTED ON BOB DYLAN’S BLOWIN’ IN THE WIND

A Final Project
submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English

by
Sofian Hanjani Indra Iswara
2211410029

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGES AND ARTS
SEMARANG STATE UNIVERSITY
2017
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 MOTTO AND DEDICATION

―…the future uncertain and the end is always near.‖

-Jim Morrison -

To
Bapak Eva Suwarto Pujiono and Ibu Indun insiyah.
Inria Saraswati Diana., and Inez Yoga Iswari.
Friends and Almamater

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

All praise to Allah SWT for His endless blessings so that this final project could

be completed well. While writing this final project, the writer got so many

guidances, helps, and motivations by various people. Therefore, in this section,

the writer would like to express his gratitude for:

1. Prof. Dr. Agus Nuryatin, M.Hum., The Dean of Faculty of Language

and Arts, Semarang State University who provides facilities during the

study.

2. Dr. Rudi Hartono, S.S., M.Pd., The Head of English Department who

facilitates and giving chances to conduct this final project.

3. Galuh Kirana Dwi Areni, S.S., M.Pd., The Head of English Education

Study Program who gives permit to conduct this final project.

4. Mohamad Ikhwan Rosyidi, S.S., M.A., as advisor I who gives wonderful

guidance, advise, and care in the process of creating this final project.

5. Bambang Purwanto, S.S., M.Hum., as advisor II who gives her time to

guide and understanding the writer of his errors and mistakes in the

process of writing this final project.

6. My beloved father, mother, sisters for their neverending support.

Thanks for all the prayers, love, and care.

7. All of my best friends, English Alliance, and many more, for their

supports and helps in any circumstances especially when conducting

this final project.

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 8. The big family of Antariksa studio and people of Kopikita who taught

me the meaning of friendship and struggle.

9. All friends of English Deparment for their togetherness and assistances

during the time in college.

10. All friends who have been sharing shelters with me, for their care and

kindness.

11. Beloved lecturers, friends, seniors, and juniors especially in Faculty of

Languages and Arts for sharing their knowledge and experiences

which enrich me as a student also as human being.

Hopefully, this final project can be helpful for the writer himself, readers, those

who wanted to conduct such analysis, and may be beneficial to the development

of the study.

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 ABSTRACT

Iswara, S.H.I. 2017. Idea of Humanism in The Order for Peace as Reflected on
Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ In The Wind. Final Project. English Department. Faculty
of Language and Arts, Semarang State University. First Advisor: Mohamad
Ikhwan Rosyidi, S.S., M.A. Second Advisor: Bambang Purwanto, S.S., M.Hum.

Keywords: Bob Dylan, Humanism, Order for Peace

The aim of this study is to find out the songwriter implicitly puts in a hidden
message that actually functions as the real idea of the song. It is a truth that song
exists as the crystallization of human‘s feelings. This content can be seen from the
part of the song which people call as lyric. Through lyric, the singer or the
songwriter can express what s/he feels and what kind of idea s/he wants to share
to the others. In this case, people should take a closer examination upon the lyric
to understand the songwriter‘s real idea or purpose. Blowin‟ In The Wind is the
example of it. Many people believe that this song is the representation of a hope
for the future. However, through this study, I found different appraisal regarding
to what was described in Blowin‟ In The Wind. By applying descriptive qualitative
research using Michael Riffaterre‘s semiotics approach, I tried to decipher the
other side of Blowin‟ In The Wind song lyric meaning. The first step of this
research was applying heuristic reading. This step was aimed to get the first order
of semiotics system. First order semiotics system is a word meaning that follows
the rule of the normative language system. In simple way, the meaning obtained
was only dictionary meanings. Then after finishing this phase, the next step done
was hermeneutic reading. This phase was aimed to get an integrated signification
of the text meaning. After separating the signs from the overall lyric and
analyzing it one by one, the significance found was that the song did not only talk
about humanism but also about order for peace. At the same time, the phrase
“order for peace” became the matrix of Blowin‟ In The Wind because it reflected
the whole idea of the lyric. In conclusion, Blowin‟ In The Wind does not express
the hope for a peaceful future world. Blowin‟ In The Wind implicitly expresses the
order for peace through the idea of humanism belief as the starting point.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ADVISORS APPROVAL ......................................................................... ii

DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY ................................................... iii
APPROVAL .............................................................................................. iv
MOTTO AND DEDICATION ................................................................. v
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................................................... vi
ABSTRACT ... ........................................................................................... viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS.......................................................................... ix
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................... xi
LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................. xii
LIST OF APPENDIXES .......................................................................... xiii

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION.............................................................. 1

1.1 Background of the Study....................................................................... 1

1.2 Reasons for Choosing the Topic ........................................................... 6
1.3 Research Problems ................................................................................ 7
1.4 Objectives of the Study ......................................................................... 7
1.5 Significances of the Study..................................................................... 8
1.6 Outline of the Report ............................................................................. 8

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE............ 10

2.1 Review of the Previous Studies............................................................. 10

2.2 Review of the Theoretical Study ........................................................... 12
2.2.1 Lyric ................................................................................................... 12
2.2.2 Peace .................................................................................................. 14
2.2.3 Humanism .......................................................................................... 16
2.2.4 Semiotics ............................................................................................ 19
2.2.5 Semiotics of Poetry ............................................................................ 21

viii
2.2.5.1 Heuristic and Hermeneutic Reading ............................................... 24
2.2.5.2 Matrix, Model and Variant .............................................................. 25
2.2.5.3 Hypogram ........................................................................................ 26
2.3 Theoretical Framework ........................................................................ 27
2.3.1 Riffaterre‘s Semiotics Analysis Scheme ........................................... 28

CHAPTER III RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................. 29

3.1 Object of the Study ............................................................................... 29

3.2 Research Design .................................................................................... 29
3.3 Role of the Researcher ......................................................................... 30
3.4 Procedures of Data Collection................................................................. 31
3.5 Procedure of Data Analysis...................................................................... 34

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS ................................. 36

4.1 Blowin‘ In The Wind‘s Representation Idea of Humanism.................. 36

4.1.1 Meaning of the Song .......................................................................... 36
4.1.2 Song Interpretation.............................................................................. 49
4.1.2.1 Order for Peace................................................................................. 51
4.2 Portrayed Cultures and Life Events of Bob Dylan................................ 52

CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS ....................... 55

5.1 Conclusions .......................................................................................... 55

5.2 Suggestions .......................................................................................... 57

BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................... 59

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 List of Tables

3.1 Gathering primary data ......................................................................... 32

3.2 Heuristic Reading Table ........................................................................ 33
3.3 Hermeneutic Reading Table.................................................................. 33

List of Figures

2.1 Riffaterre‘s Semiotics Analysis Scheme ............................................... 28

List of Appendixes

Appendix 1 .................................................................................................. 62
Appendix 2 .................................................................................................. 71

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 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents introduction of the study which consists of background of

the study, reasons for choosing the topic, statement of the problems, objectives of

the study, significances of the study, and outline of the study.

1.1 Background of the Study

Humanism, for all its emphasis on morality, critical thinking, and personal

responsibility is actually a joyful approach to life. According to Linus Pauling

(1962), humanism is a philosophy of joyous service for the greater good of all

humanity, of application of new ideas of scientific progress for the benefit of all.

Affirming the dignity of each human being, it supports the maximization

of individual liberty and opportunity consonant with social and planetary

responsibility. It advocates the extension of participatory democracy and

the expansion of the open society, standing for human rights and soc ial

justice.

Humanism is an idealism that uses the concept of humanity as the only

purpose of human life and does not believe in supernatural thing such as God

(Epul, 2011). Furthermore, humanism is also believes nature is the total of the

reality, that the energy materials and non-idea are the former of the universe and

there is no supernatural entities at all. It means, at this level, humans do not have

immortal supernatural soul. At the level of universe, the cosmos does not have

1
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God (Corliss Lamont, 1949:116). When it is examined closely, it will be found an

identical concept between humanism and atheism. They both do not believe in the

existence of supernatural entities (Harun Yahya, 2003:168). Basically, those

ideologies assume that peace, prosperity and freedom of individual's life can only

be obtained through the development of human potentials and override any

supernatural power. From various human potentials development that is used to

convey message of peace, one of the most influential is in the art of music that is

by using song. Song becomes a kind of virus that makes the listener experiencing

an opiate; especially the song chosen is in line with the mood or idealism. Song

can be said to be the easiest medium of delivering a certain message because song

can is acceptable for anyone (Fury Ayunindya, 2013).

Song actually is a kind of lyric, which is sung with music arrangement.

Song can be defined as a piece of music with words that is sung (Hornby,

1995:1133). Song has been a part of human‘s life since the ancient era until now.

It develops within the development of human culture. The existence of song

however cannot be separated with music. Hornby (1995:766) defined music as the

arrangement of sounds in pleasing sequence or combination to be sung or played

on instruments. Some people said that music is an art of sound. Some others said

that music is an expression of human‘s feelings. Even Aristotle also defined music

as an art, which has ability to draw out tranquility for mankind. According to

Aristotle (Donald Grout, 1988:7-8), Music directly imitates the passions or states

of the soul. When one listens to music that imitates a certain passion, he becomes

imbued with the same passion; and if over a long time he habitually listens to
 3

music that rouses ignoble passions, his whole character will be shaped to an

ignoble form. It means, music has a big effect in shaping human‘s personality.

Good music can shape one‘s personality into better and immoral music can shape

one‘s personality into worse. Sometimes music can be performed without words

in it, for example solo musical performance on a musical instrument. A song is

one kind of music because it is composed in a harmonious sound rhythm. The

difference is that a song is always followed by words called lyric. A song is

merely poetry when it is rendered as if reading a text without any rhythm, but

becomes music when set to a tune and sung accordingly. Lyric is a kind of poetry.

Lyric Poetry consists of a poem, such as a sonnet or an ode that expresses the

thoughts and feelings of the poet. The term lyric is now commonly referred to as

the words to a song. Lyric poetry does not tell a story, which portrays characters

and actions. The lyric poet addresses the reader directly, portraying his or her own

feeling, state of mind, and perceptions. To make short, lyric is non-narrative, short

poem that reveals the speaker‘s personal feeling, emotion, mode, state of mind,

expression, thought, attitude, perception etc. According to Mark Wallace (2011),

Lyrics are the written words in a song. Lyrics can be written during composition

of a song or after the accompanying music is composed.

Songs carries various kinds of meaning within its body that can be

conveyed through its lyric. Song can also reveal the songwriter‘s feelings and

idealism which he wants to introduce to people. There is a specific discipline

which allows people to understand the hidden meanings of a certain text like lyric

or poem which is known as semiotics. Among so many branches of semiotics

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discipline, there is a specific semiotics approach which is usually be used to

decipher poetry; it is called poetic semiotics. This branch of semiotics was firstly

introduced by Michael Riffatee in 1971. Michael Riffaterre was born in France in

1924. He studied at the University of Lyon and the University of Paris in the

1940s. He immigrated to the United States and completed his doctorate at

Columbia University in New York in 1955. He taught at the University of New

York until 1964, when he was granted a chair at Columbia University, where he

has been teaching ever since. A member of the American Academy of Arts and

Sciences, he has been editor of the Romanic Review and was director of the School

of Theory and Criticism at Dartmouth College for 10 years. He has published five

books to date, and nearly a hundred articles in various books and journals, writing

in both French and English. A large part of Riffaterre's writings deals with poetic

language. He attempts to define the nature of literary texts and he observes how

they function. For Riffaterre, literary communication is an experience whose

uniqueness is rooted in the specific stylistic features of the work, manifested by

the presence of ungrammaticalities.

By following the tenet of the following approach, the researcher

successfully dug out the fact about some specific purpose inside song writing. In

this research, the researcher chose a song taken from ―The Freewheelin‟ Bob

Dylan” album as his research object. The title of the song is, ―Blowin‟ In The

Wind”. It was written and popularized by Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan (born Robert

Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American songwriter, singer, artist, and

writer. He has been influential in popular music and culture for more than five
 5

decades. Bob Dylan win the Nobel Prize in Literature 2016. Much of his most

celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when his songs chronicled social unrest.

Early songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'"

became anthems for the American civil rights and anti-war movements. Leaving

behind his initial base in the American folk music revival, his six-minute single

"Like a Rolling Stone", recorded in 1965, enlarged the range of popular music.

Dylan's lyrics incorporate a wide range of political, humanity, social,

philosophical, and literary influences. They defied existing pop music conventions

and appealed to the burgeoning counterculture. Initially inspired by the

performances of Little Richard and the songwriting of Woody Guthrie, Robert

Johnson, and Hank Williams, Dylan has amplified and personalized musical

genres. His recording career, spanning more than 50 years, has explored the

traditions in American song—from folk, blues, and country togospel, rock and

roll, and rockabilly to English, Scottish, and Irish folk music, embracing

even jazz and the Great American Songbook. Dylan performs with guitar,

keyboards, and harmonica. Backed by a changing lineup of musicians, he has

toured steadily since the late 1980s on what has been dubbed the Never Ending

Tour.

Besides Blowin‟ In The Wind, there are many songs talking about peace or

humanity. For example, a song by John Lennon entitled Imagine, which tells

about war, peace, and humanity. This song gives a reflection image about

something happens in this era, many people are suffering because of war like what

is happening in Palestine or Syria until now. Another famous song of peace is a

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song entitled Heal the World by Michael Jackson. „Heal the World‟ is a song that

describes a place where needy people need our help to save their live. This song

was written by Michael Jackson himself. Given the title ‗Heal the World‘,

Michael brings his idea to develop his voice to help the needy children in the

lyric. This song tells a real story to human being that there is a place in the world

that needs help from the kinds. Although those three songs (including Blowin‟ In

The Wind) tell about a same thing, there is a bit differentiation among them. Both

Imagine and Heal the World are written based on a normal idea. The words the

songwriters choose are portraying what should be done to maintain peace or to

keep the world peaceful in a usual way just like most people think. It is different

with Blowin‟ In The Wind song lyric. Dylan describes how to gain peace in

different way, the steps he states through Blowin‟ In The Wind is very unique and

uncommon.

Because of the uniqueness of Blowin‟ In The Wind song, the researcher

selected this song as the object of his analysis. Using Riffaterre‘s poetic semiotics

approach, the researcher conveyed to people the hidden meaning and concept of

humanism which lay within this song.

1.2 Reason for Choosing the Topic

The researcher selected song as his research object and also why should Bob

Dylan‘s song as the object of his research and poetic semiotics as the approach of

his final project because of the following reasons:

The first reason, song is the most influential tool of spreading a certain

message. Song is also acceptable for anyone no matter s/he is an expert or a

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common people. Not only because of that, from the language point of view, the

language of song lyric is always full of figures of speech. It is also constructed by

many symbolic words which the meaning can be interpreted from many points of

view.

Secondly, song lyric is categorized as a part of poetry and its structure is

identical to the structure of a poem. That is why the fittest approach which was

used in analyzing song lyric was poetic semiotics of Michael Riffaterre. Poetic

semiotics digs out the meaning of the object literarily and semiotically.

Furthermore, song is a famous public figure whose works are well-known and

loved by many people in the world. Bob Dylan is the great songwriter, artis,

singer, and writer. His works influenced 20th century. Dylan‘s also won a Nobel

Prize of Literature in 2016. Second, The Freewheelin Bob Dylan has become one

of greatest albums during it was published until today. Considering this, the

researcher believed that his works could influence Dylan‘s fans‘ ways of thinking.

Therefore, by conducting a literary research on his ―Blowin‘ In The WInd‖ lyric,

the researcher was also able to give the readers more understanding about the

implicit meanings in it. This factor became one of many considerations for the

researcher in choosing Blowin‟ In The Wind song as the object of his study.

1.3 Research Problems

In this study, there are several problems identified. The problems identified are

stated as the following questions:

1) How is idea of humanism described on Bob Dylan‘s Blowin‟ In The Wind?

2) What culture is portrayed inside the lyric of Blowin‟ In The Wind song?
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1.4 Objectives of the Study

Based on the identified problems above, the objectives of the study are:

1) To explain how idea of humanism is described on Bob Dylan‘s Blowin‟ In

The Wind.

2) To describe the culture portrayed inside the lyric of Blowin‟ In The Wind

song.

1.5 Significance of the Study

The research was focused on understanding the detail meaning of Blowin‟ In The

Wind song. It focused on digging the meaning which was laid inside the lyric

through reading the signs. By applying intensive reading through the lyric, people

are able to apply their background knowledge to understand what is the real

meaning and purpose of a literary work especially a song. This research proved

that not every sweet and beautiful song carries a good purpose. Sometimes people

can find a secret orderly conspiracy inside a song which is performed in a

beautiful way. This research opened the people‘s perspective in appreciating and

evaluating the meaning of a song. This study also can be used as the reference for

the students that conducted research in the same topic or object of study.

1.6 Outline of the Study

Systematically, the content of this final project report is divided into five chapters

and several subchapters. Chapter I is research introduction. This chapter discusses

some subchapters including: background of the study, reason for choosing the

topic, research problems, objective of the study, significance of the study, and

outline of the study.

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Chapter II presents review of related literature which consists of some

references and theories related to the subject matter. This chapter presents some

brief explanations about the theories related in this research. The first subchapter

contains the previous studies which discuss about the use of semiotics approach

towards a poem and also some studies conducted by scholars that directly relate to

the problems. The second subchapter is review of the theoretical study which

explains the description of the theories used in the research as the research

evidences. Lastly, the third subchapter is theoretical framework. This subchapter

describes the approach the researcher used and how to apply it.

Chapter III is research methodology. It consists of five subchapters; they

are: object of the study, research design, role of the researcher, procedure of data

collection, and procedure of data analysis.

Chapter IV is discussion. It discusses the result of the analysis about the

object of the research. In this chapter, the researcher presented the finding, data

interpretation, as well as the answers from the problems provided in the first

chapter.

Chapter V is the conclusion and suggestion. It contains the conclusion

which is the crystallization of the research result and followed by a suggestion

dealing with the subject matter of the research.

 CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF THE RELATED LITERATURE

In the following chapter, the researcher presents the review of related literature

which consists of the previous studies that relate to the issues and some definitions

of the theories used to support the research.

2.1 Review of the Previous Study

Uniawati Uniawati (2007) conducted a research entitled ―Mantra Melaut Suku

Bajo – Interpretasi Semiotik Riffaterre‖ that the focus was to pull out the

significance of Bajo tribe‘s mantras so that the function of the text automatically

flown up. In her study, she applied Riffaterre‘s theory of semiotics. She used the

method of heuristic and hermeneutic reading toward the text and researched one

of poetry genre called “mantra” (spell). Relying on Rifatterre‘s semiotics as the

foundation of her interpretations, she was able to give meaning to the mantra.

Ultimately, after doing her analysis upon ten Bajo‘s mantras she put a conclusion

that in the surface the mantras looked very ungrammatical, and meaningless.

Every line did not relate each other as if it had no continuity between the lines.

When it went to the second reading (hermeneutic or retroactive reading), the

mantra‘s harmony began to flow up. The aims of the texts were clearly shown.

The text itself also does not show its ungrammatical form anymore.

Yuda Hermawan (2015) conducted a research entitled Concept of Peace,

Humanism and New World Order In Imagine Song by John Lennon. After

reaching the end of the analysis, his research concluded that “Imagine” had a

10
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deeper meaning than most people know. The main points of his research that lead

the interpretation into in-depth analysis, his research found that most of the song

content related into the concept of secular humanism that originally based on the

idea of atheism. The clearest part of the lyric that showed the relation between the

lyric and the idea of secularism was written in the second stanza.

Azhar Helmi (2014) conducted a research entitled Reception Analysis in

Song Lyric Entitled “Imagine” by John Lennon. The main point of his research

was about the depiction of communism manifesto utopia in Imagine song lyric.

His aim from this study was to drag out the clear picture of Imagine‟s true

meaning using the responses he got from his respondents and assimilated it with

his knowledge. Through literary reception of H.R Jauss‘ approach or what so

called pragmatic approach, he tried to find out the real utopia conveyed by John

Lennon in that song. He believes that whether good or bad the utopia is, it

depends on the reader‘s interpretation. He also stated that the background

knowledge and the life events the reader experiences build the reader‘s valuation.

A study of music as a media of spreading occultism was conducted by

Francisco Santos Silva. He wrote a journal entitled ―Crowley and Unconscious‖

that talked about Aleister Crowley ritualistic magic and religion, also the

application of the religion in society through science including music as the

media. According to him, music psychologically affected the ―unconscious‖ side

of human brain. His purpose was to harness the power of unconscious to obtain

certain magical ends.

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Another study was conducted by Matsuo (2011) entitled “Concept of

Peace in Peace Studies: A Short Historical Sketch”. His study attempts to trace

the development of the concept of peace in peace studies, by an examination of

studies on the peace concept and definitions of peace by peace researchers, from

two perspectives of peace value and peace sphere. It shows that the concept of

peace employed in peace studies has been expanded both in peace value and peace

sphere to include more than one peace value and peace sphere.

Although raising same subject or topic, every study will lead into different

outcome depend on the perspective chosen by its researcher. Although the

previous studies have been conducted by several researchers like what has been

written by Yuda Hermawan (2015), the outcome between his research and the

research that the researcher designed are not the same. It is possible because the

outcome of every study is based on the background knowledge of each researcher,

the perspective and the approach used. By using Riffaterre‘s poetics semiotic

toward Blowin‟ In The Wind, this study provided deeper and more elaborate

understanding compared to previous studies. Furthermore, this study has also

given another new color to the Blowin‟ In The Wind song lyric analysis.

2.2 Review of the Theoretical Study

2.2.1 Lyric
Lyric is non-narrative, short poem that reveals the speaker‘s personal feeling,

emotion, mode, state of mind, expression, thought, attitude, perception etc. in a

first person narrative. Lyric poetry does not tell any story; rather it is very

personal and solely focused on the speaker‘s personal feeling and ideas. The

speaker in a lyric poem always uses first person. For example: I, My love, etc. So,
 13

in lyric poetry, the speaker directly addresses the readers, invoking his own

personal feeling and expressions. The word ‗Lyric‘ comes from the Greek word

‗Lyre‘, a stringed musical instrument. Initially, Lyric poems were meant to be

sung, and poets were used to singing lyric with the lyre. Originally, Lyric poets

tended to be musical. In fact, musicality is one of the characteristics of lyric.

However, over the time, the meaning of lyric has been changed and it no longer

means music. Rather, lyric poetry is now largely meant for reading.

Explanation of the speaker‘s intense emotion, thought and feeling is the

main purpose of lyric poetry. That is why, some critics say that ‗you do not hear

lyric poem; rather, you overhear lyric poem‘. Among the different kinds of lyric

poetry, 14-line Sonnet is most popular. Some other forms of lyric poetry are Ode,

Elegy etc. For the last 500 years, lyric has been the most popular form of poetry in

the world. Lyric Poetry: highly musical verse that expresses the speaker's feelings

and observations. In ancient times poems were sung with accompaniment from a

lyre. Modern lyric poems, although usually not sung, still possess musical

qualities--rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, and onomatopoeia. Examples of lyric

poems include "The Eagle" by Alfred Lord Tennyson, "The Bells" by Edgar Allan

Poe, and "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" by William Wordsworth

According to Rees (1973: 75) lyric itself is the name for a short poem that

is usually divided into stanzas and directly expressing the own thought. From the

statement above, it can be concluded that short lyric poem is the part of a literary

work in which it is used by its writers to convey messages and express their

feelings.
 14

Song lyric as one of the building blocks in a song or music can be

categorized as poetry in literature. This is consistent with some of the following

sense. DEPDIKNAS (2008) explains that the lyric is a literary works (poems) that

contains the outpouring of personal feeling. According to Semi (1984: 95) lyric is

a very short poem that appreciates the emotion. Furthermore, Sylado (1983: 32)

states the song can also be a musical arrangements plus lyrics (text) that the lyrics

express the feelings and thoughts creator with certain ways that are commonly

used. So, between songs with lyrics related to the field of language. From the

definitions before, it can be concluded that the song lyric is a medium to deliver

an idea or notion of a composer to the listener. As a medium to deliver the

message, the language used in the song lyric should be communicative and

contains a positive message.

2.2.2 Peace

The term 'peace' originates most recently from the Anglo-French pes, and the Old

French pais, which mean "peace, reconciliation, silence, agreement". This term

came in the 11th century. Yet Pes itself comes from the Latin pax which means

"peace, compact, agreement, treaty of peace, tranquility, absence of hostility,

harmony." The English word came into use in various personal greetings from

around 1300 as a translation of the Hebrew word shalom which according to

Jewish theology, comes from a Hebrew verb meaning 'to restore'. Although 'peace'

is the usual translation, however, it is an incomplete one, because 'shalom' which

is also the same as the Arabic salaam has multiple other meanings in addition to

peace, including justice, good health, safety, well-being, prosperity, equity,

 15

security, good fortune, and friendliness. At a personal level, peaceful behaviors

are kind, considerate, respectful, and tolerant of others' beliefs and behaviors.

―Peace‖ is something that seems to be a goal for many in the field. And,

the connotation amongst the folk is that it is desirable. Furthermore, both in

academics as well as folk understanding, ―peace‖ is utopian (where utopian is

something that, while perhaps a nice idea, does not really exist). Were this to be

true, the field would be one of folly and those in it very naive. Still it is not just a

term used by academies, but also others: Religions talk of peace, as do militaries

and law enforcement agencies. All these fields and practices have a different, yet

somehow related understanding of what ―peace‖ is, as well as how ―peace‖ may

be achieved.

Peace has always been among humanity's highest values--for some,

supreme. Consider: "The most disadvantageous peace is better than the most just

war (Desiderius Erasmus, 1508)". "Peace is more important than all justice

(Martin Luther, 1530)‖. For some people, peace is viewed as an absence of

dissension, violence, or war, a meaning found in the New Tastement and possibly

an original meaning of the Greek word for peace, Irene. Pacifists have adopted

this interpretation, for to them all violence is bad. This meaning is widely

accepted among irenologists and students of international relations. It is the

primary dictionary definition.

Rummel (1981:1) states that peace, however, is also seen as concord, or

harmony and tranquility. It is viewed as peace of mind or serenity, especially in

the East. It is defined as a state of law or civil government, a state of justice or

 16

goodness, a balance or equilibrium of Powers. Such meanings of peace function at

different levels. Peace may be opposed to or an opposite of antagonistic conflict,

violence, or war. It may refer to an internal state (of mind or of nations) or to

external relations. Peace can be a dichotomy (it exists or it does not) or

continuous, passive or active, empirical or abstract, descriptive or normative, or

positive or negative.

2.2.3 Humanism

Corlis Lamont (1949) states ―humanism believes that the nature (world) is the

sum total of reality, that matter-energy and non-mind is the material of the

universe, and that supernatural entities simply do not exist. Supernatural unreality

on the human level means that humans do not have the supernatural and immortal

souls; and at the level of the universe as a whole, that our cosmos does not have a

supernatural and eternal God.‖

Seen from its linguistic aspect, the term ―humanism‖ originally comes

from Latin language ―humanus” and its root word is “homo” which means

―human‖. “Humanus” means human nature or in accordance with human‘s nature

(A.Mangunhardjana in Haryanto Al-Fandi, 2011:71). As an ideology, the people

who support it are called as ―Humanist‖. Humanist ideology is a school which is

used to learn and investigate the books of knowledge left by the Greeks and

Romans. The books are reprinted and then given a more detailed explanation.

Besides humanus, there is umanista term, the jargon of the Renaissance era that is

aligned with artista (artists) or iurista (jurists). Umanista are a teacher or student

which study about culture, such as grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry art, or moral
 17

philosophy. Terminologically, humanism means the dignity and value of every

human and every effort to fully intensify their natural ability, physic and non

physic (Hasan Hanafi in Haryanto Al-Fandi, 2011:71).

Abdurrahman Mas‘ud (2004:135) expresses that humanism is defined as

the power or individual potency to measure and reach the realm of divinity and

resolve social problems. According to this view, the individual is always in the

process of perfecting himself. Humanism as a philosophical school, views that

humans have nobility, and they are able to determine their own destiny. With their

own strength, they are able to develop themselves. This viewpoint is called

humanism or humanistic view. The use of humanism term originally only limited

to the principle which occurred among thinkers in the Renaissance era. They

devoted their attention to the teaching of Ancient Greek and Roman literature and

to humanity. The position of humanism is the same as a reformation. Both are

equally craving the achievement of the individual. The difference is that in

humanism, the truth they believe is not bounded with the truth of God (religion).

Humanists think that humans are the center of everything, not God. The idea was

influenced by the science of nature and becomes the origin of rationalism. Instead,

reformation does not worship human and beauty. Reformation believes in God as

the center of everything and the happiness can only be found in the afterlife, not in

this world.

Humanism is seen as a good idea of humanity and brotherhood. But it

turns out philosophically, Humanism is the way human beings think that

concentrate as the only concept and purpose. This concept is refusing to

 18

acknowledge that there is a supernatural force that affects human, in other words

Humanism invited to turn away from belief in the existence of God. In its

progress, humanism is divided into two main movements; the first one is religious

humanism and the other one is secular humanism. Religious humanism stems

from the tradition of Renaissance-Enlightenment and followed by many artists,

midline Christians, and scholars of the free arts. Their views are usually focused

on the dignity and nobility of humans‘ successfulness and something which

humans have already achieved. Secular Humanism reflects the rise of globalism,

technology, and the fall of the power of religion. Secular Humanism also believes

in the dignity and worth of a person and the ability to gain self-awareness through

logical thinking. The People who are included into this category assume that they

are the response to the need for a common philosophy which is not restricted to

the cultural differences as a result of religious customs.

Humanism in its development is no longer refers to the liberation

movements in the time of the Renaissance era and from the doctrines which were

imprisoning men, but develops within sciences. For example, there is often stated

about the humanistic sciences term. Dilthey Wilhelm (1900) states that human

phenomenon is unique. It is unlimited and cannot be equated simply with any

other nature symptoms. Man is the subject, not the object. The best answer to the

above question is by looking at the Geisteswissenchaften humanistic traits (the

science of human). That is, the emphasis on uniqueness, subjectivity, and

spirituality of a human being. In Geisteswissenchaften, human values and dignity

are lifted. But there are also people who do not agree with his theory about
 19

Geisteswissenchaften Dilthey that seems to negate Naturwissenchaften (natural

physical realm).

Humanism figures whose ideas influence the movement of modern

humanism including Ludwig Feurbach (1843) who considered religion as the

annotation of human, Karl Marx (1844) who viewed religion as the opium of

people, Friederic Nietzsche (1878) who expressed that the existance of ―god‖ is

the creation of human‘s mind, Sigmund Freud (1927) who believed that religion

is just an illution. John Paul Sarte who continued the marxism.

2.2.4 Semiotics

The term Semiotic comes from a Greek‘s word, Semeion which means ―sign‖.

Semiotic means a branch of discipline which study signs and anything to do with

signs, for example the system of sign and the process that occurs for the usage of

sign (Zoest, 1993:01). Semiotic learns about systems, rules and conversions which

allow the signs to create meaning. Ferdinand de Saussure (Piliang 2003:256)

defines Semiotic as a knowledge which study sign as a part of social life.

Implicitly, in the definition of Saussure there is a tenet that semiotic is really

based itself on the rule and social rule which happen it the society until the

meaning of signs can be understood collectively. In the beginning, semiotic was

the science which learned about every sign systems that was used in the human

life. Alternatively, semiotic is a science which observes every type of

communication that are related to the meaning of signs and based on the system of

signs. Teeuw (1982:50) says that semiotic is a sign as an act of communication.

 20

In a literary work, meaning of a language depends on the literary

conversion. According to Preminger in Pradopo (2010:121) the conversion of a

literary work is called as the additional conversion. It is a conversion which is

added into the conversion of language. To differentiate the meaning of literary

work, there are two kind of terms used. The terms used are ―Meaning‖ and

―significance‖. Thus, in literature interpretation or the connotation, especially in

poetry, the conversion explicitly gives an additional meaning to the meaning of

language.

Literary work is a system which has its own conversions (Suseno WS,

2008). In the poetry genre especially, it has many branches: lyric, poem, sonnet,

ballad, etc. Poetry genre is a sign system which has the only sign (which is

minimal) like glossary and figures of speech for example personification, simile,

metaphor and metonymy. That signs have meanings depend on the conversions of

literature.

In the study of sign, Saussure has an important role in identifying a sign.

Saussure in Pilliang (2003:90) explains ―sign‖ as a part of a unit which cannot be

separated from two surfaces like a piece of paper. Both of them are signifier

which explains the shape or the expression of a word and signified which explain

the concept of a word. Saussure puts sign in the context of human communication

by doing classification of signifier and signified. Signifier is the material form of

the word and signified is the concept which is represented by the signifier. That is

the meaning. To make it clear, the word ―Father‖ is a sign which is represented as

a unit of sounds that marks the meaning of ―male parent‖.

 21

The system of language and literature are two important aspects in

semiotic. Literary work is a meaningful sign system that uses language as its

medium. Preminger in Pradopo (2010:142) says that language is the first grade

semiotic which has already has a meaning. In literature, the language meaning is

known as significance which makes literature as the second graded semiotic.

Riffatere (1978:166) states that the task of the reader in reading a literary work is

to create meanings upon the signs which are exist inside the text he reads. The

sign will get its meaning after the reader does a reading and interpreting upon it.

Basically, semiotic transfer happens inside the reader‘s mind.

2.2.5 Semiotics of Poetry

A good poem (lyric) should offer a series of meanings to the reader. To catch a

series of meanings offered, of course the reader should go deeper into it and tries

to give an interpretation upon it. The first step to go into that understanding is by

finding out the meaning of texts through interpretation. As a text, lyric offers

many explicit meaning which can be separated from its original form; the diction,

syntactic arrangement and semiotic meaning. Riffaterre (1987:1) stated that a

poem from the past until now always changes depending on the evolution of taste

and the aesthetic concept which changes period by period. He believes that poem

is one form of language activities. Poem talks about something which has a

different meaning from what it actually says. It means poem talks about

something indirectly and the language used in poem is different from the language

people use daily. Therefore, the indirect way of expressing idea in the poem is a

kind of general language conversion. Literary works is an indirect expression.

 22

That is stating an idea in indirect way using different and unique style of language

(Pradopo, 2010:124).

According to Riffaterre (1978:2) the indirect expression of poem happens

because of three factors. They are ―displacing of meaning‖, ―distorting of

meaning‖ and ―creation of meaning‖. Those three factors of this indirect will

clearly threaten the representation of reality or what is called mimetic. The

cornerstone of mimesis is a direct relationship between the words with the object.

At this level, there is still a void which needs to be filled by looking at the indirect

shape of expression to generate a new interpretation (significance).

The first factor is ―Displacing of Meaning‖. This displacing of meaning

according to Riffatere (1987:2) is caused by the use of metaphor and metonymy in

literature. Metaphor and metonymy in the broad sense is used to refer to figurative

language in general, not only to refer metonymy and metaphor themselves. This is

because metaphor and metonymy are important figures of speech which can

alternate other figures of speech. In addition, there are other types of figurative

languages; they are simile (comparison), personification, synecdoche, epics, and

allegory. The metaphor is a figure of speech that expresses an expression directly

in the form of analogical comparison. The use of a word or group of words is not

in the true sense, but rather as an illustration which based on equality or

comparison for example the backbone of the sentence ―young people are the

backbone of the country‖. Metonymy is a figure of speech that uses the feature or

label of an object to replace the object itself. The process of disclosure is by

 23

replacement of the name the object with the label, brand or the attribute of the

object itself.

The second factor is ―Distorting of Meaning‖. Evaluative or emotive

language meaning distortion is usually intended to form conspicuousness,

accentuation, ornamentation, humor and other effects. Riffaterre (1978: 2) states

that the distortion of meaning is caused by three things: the first is ambiguity,

second is contradiction, and the third is nonsense. Ambiguity is caused by multi

meaning of a word of literary works especially in poetry. It is sometimes called as

―polyinterpretable‖. Contradiction means an utterance containing contradictions

caused by paradox or irony. Paradox is a statement which contrary to its own, or

contrary to public opinion, but when it is deeply observed, it contains a reality,

whereas irony means opposite. Irony is mostly used to mock or satirize a certain

situation. Nonsense is words which linguistically have no meaning and sometime

it is only series of sounds which are not available in the dictionary. Basically, the

meaning of nonsense poetry will arise whenever it touches literary conversion of a

community. Nonsense is functioned to create or to strengthen a magical power.

Example of nonsense poetry is Mantra (spell).

The last one is ―Creating of Meaning‖. The meaning creation occurs by

means of enjambment, homologue, and typography. (Riffaterre, 1978:2). This

creation of meaning is a poetic conversion in the form of visual figuration which

is linguistically has no meaning, yet it creates meaning to the poem. Therefore,

this creation of meaning is a text organization beyond linguistic. For example, the

poem "The tragedy Winka and Sihka" written by Sutardji Calzoum Bachri. This
 24

poem emphasizes more focus on the typography aspect and arranges the poem in a

zigzag way. This poem consists of only two words: ―kawin‖ and ―kasih‖. Both

words are cut off in a metathesis way. Linguistically, there is no more meaning in

the poem except ―kawin‖ and ―kasih‖ itself. In the poem, the meaning of ―kawin‖

and ―kasih‖ are connotative. It means that a marriage raises a wishful thinking of

life.

Zigzag typography gives a suggestion that at first marriage gives both

bridges an expectation of happiness, but there is nothing that always in accordance

to what are people expected. The marriage faces many winding roads which are

full of thorns and in the end they (the bridges) will face a misadventure. The

marriage is eventually led into a tragedy (Pradopo, 2005: 131).

2.2.5.1 Heuristic and Hermeneutic Reading

Semiotic manifestation is anything which has a connection with the signs from the

mimetic level into the higher level of interpretation. Semiotic process basically

happens inside the reader‘s mind as the result of second phase reading. Before

reaching the interpretation phase, the readers have to face the obstacles on the

mimetic level first. The decoding process of literary works started with what so

called first phase reading which is conducted by reading from the first verse until

the last verse (Riffaterre, 1978:5). This first stage reading is called ―heuristic

reading‖ and the second stage reading is called ―hermeneutic reading‖. Heuristic

reading is a poem reading which in accordance with the normative grammar,

morphology, syntax, and semantics. Heuristic reading produces an overall

meaning that is convenient to the normative grammar with first level semiotic
 25

system. After passing the first stage reading, the readers come to the second stage

reading, which is referred to as retroactive reading or hermeneutic reading. In this

phase, the next level of interpretation happens (real interpretation). The readers try

to look back and to perform comparisons related to what has been read in the first

stage of the reading processs (Santosa, 2004:234). In this phase, the readers are

stepping into a condition which is called ―decoding effect‖. Decoding effect

means, the readers begin to understand that everything at the first sight, in the first

phase of reading process, are viewed as ―ungrammatical‖ text and begin to be

interrelating facts after touching the second phase of reading process.

In line with heuristic and hermeneutic reading, the differentiation of the

term ―meaning‖ and ―significance‖ should be distinguished seriously. Riffaterre in

Faruk (2012: 141) distinguishes the concept of meaning and significance.

―Meaning‖ is a referential linguistic interpretation which occurs from the

relationship of reality and similarity (Faruk, 2012:142). Therefore, it can be

understood that ―meaning‖ is overall information in mimetic hierarchy which the

text provides for the readers. Meanwhile, ―significance‖ is a unity of the

conceptual and semantic aspects. Basically, it can be stated that the overall

meaning is referential. This feature is suitable to the feature of language whereas

significance can "come" from the language reference and refers to things outside

the text. In the level of heuristic reading, the readers will only find the ―meaning‖

of a text. Meanwhile, ―significance‖ can be obtained after the readers exceed the

retroactive or hermeneutic reading.

 26

2.2.5.2 Matrix, Model and Variant

Riffaterre in Pradopo explains that understanding a poem is the same as seeing a

donut. There is an empty space in the middle of a donut that its function is to

support and to sustain the existence of the part of the donut which exists around

the empty space. In a poem, this empty space is the center of the interpretation

which is called as matrix (1978:3). Matrix does not present in a text but the

actualization of the matrix exists within a text. This actualization is called as

model. Ultimately, the matrix itself exists as the key which gives the poem a unity

(Selden, 1993:126). This explanation is suitable to the concept which is proposed

by Indrastuti (2007:4) that matrix is an abstract concept which is never be

actualized. This concept can be summarized into one word or phrase. The first

actualization of the matrix is model. The first actualization exists in the form of a

certain words or sentences which are unique and poetical. This uniqueness of the

model is capable to distinguish the differentiation between words or sentences in a

poem. The presence of word itself is stated whenever the sign is hypogrammatic

and because of that it is monumental. Based on the relationship between matrix

and model, it can be said that matrix is the driving force of a textual derivation,

and model becomes a divider of that derivation. Practically, matrix is always

materialized in a form of consecutive variant. The form of the variant is

determined by the model.

2.2.5.3 Hypogram

Intertextual principle is the principles of the relationship between the text rhymes.

In fact, it is exist starting to the assumption that literary works including poem
 27

does not present from a cultural void. In this state, a verse is the visualization of a

response or a reaction towards previous works. The response can be a deviation of

a tradition. In this case, like it or not, the process of text transformation happens.

Transforming is converting something into another form or shapes which

basically have the same value (Pradopo, 2010:132). In that process, there is a term

which is known as hypogram. Riffaterre (1978:2) defines that hypogram is a text

which becomes the surface or basic of another text‘s creation. Practically,

hypogram is divided into two types; they are potential hypogram and actual

hypogram. Potential hypogram, which can be traced inside a language, is

hypothetical like the characteristic of matrix. Actual hypogram is different; its

characteristic is that actual hypogram always explicit. Those for main elements

which Riffatere has explained become the important tools to reveal meanings

which lie behind Bob Dylan‘s ―Blowin‘ In The Wind‖ song lyric. Through the

signs which occur in the verses, the process of interpretation will be put in motion.

Thus, Riffaterre‘s semiotic concept which will be applied in this study can help

the writer to find out an integrated meaning inside Bob Dylan‘s ―Blowin‘ In The

Wind‖

2.3 Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework used in this study is based on library research and

reading related materials such as journals, theoretical books, essays, and articles.

Moreover, the researcher preferred to use Michael Riffaterre‘s semiotics of poetry

because this approach was the most suitable method to analyze the text. The
 28

analysis of the text was also supported by the support of other studies for example

the study of humanism, the biography of Bob Dylan, and some other studies.

2.3.1 Framework of the study

Text, Blowin‟ In The Wind

Riffaterre‘s Semiotics Analysis Scheme

Analysis
- Heuristic Reading
- Hermeneutic Reading

Significance Matrix Hypogram

Conclusion

Figure 2.1
 29

2.3.2 Riffaterre’s Semiotics Analysis Scheme

Significance
(Deeper
understanding)
Text Hermeneutic +
Heuristic Reading
(Blowin‟ In Reading Matrix
(Dictionary
The Wind) (Reader‘s (Text Keyword)
Meaning)
Interpretation) +
Hypogram
(Influence of the
text creation)

Figure 2.2
 CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

In this part, the researcher presented the object of the study, research design, role

of the researcher, procedures of data collection, and procedures of data analysis.

3.1 Object of the Study

The object is divided into two kinds of objects. They are material object and

formal object. Material object is the study of Blowin‟ In The Wind song lyric seen

from the text content point of view, while formal object is the study of the lyric

seen from the reader‘s point of view where the reader found that the lyric contains

some problems that should be analyzed concerning on the representation of

humanism, peace and also the portrayed culture inside the Lyric of Blowin‟ In The

Wind song.

3.2 Research Design

In this research, the researcher has drawn design relating to the steps in doing the

analysis. This section consists of:

3.2.1 Type of Research

To gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations toward

the phenomenon described in Blowin‟ In The Wind song lyric, the researcher

focused on applying descriptive qualitative method. Qualitative research relies on

linguistic that numerical data and employs meaning-based rather than statistical

form of data analysis (Polkinghorne, 1983). Based from that, the researcher

described the signs which indicate a cause and effect relationship followed by the

30
 31

evidence to vindicate his statements. The data used were words, phrases and

clauses instead of numbers and it has been taken from the lyric of Blowin‟ In The

Wind song.

3.2.2 Source of Data Collection

The analyzed data is in the form of written language. The researcher only focused

on the analysis of textual data. All of the data are in the form of composing words

and sentences which are called qualitative data. In this research, there are two

kinds of data sources which are used; they are primary and secondary data.

Primary data is the data extracted from the Blowin‟ In The Wind song lyric. The

data taken can be a word, phrase or clause. Meanwhile, secondary data is the data

taken from the outside of the Blowin‟ In The Wind lyric that are relevant to the

topic. The data can be taken from books, dictionaries, articles, e-books and

journals.

3.2.3 Research Approach

In order to give semiotic meanings in the text, the process of approaching the text

was applied by doing heuristic and hermeneutic or retroactive reading, finding the

matrix and also the hypogram according to the step described in the poetic

semiotics approach of Riffaterre. This approach was applied in attempt to uncover

the meaning and phenomena contained in Bob Dylan‘s Blowin‟ In The Wind.

Heuristic reading, according to Riffaterre (1978:5) is the first reading step which

is intended to comprehend the meaning linguistically while hermeneutic reading is

the second step of reading which is intended to interpret intact meaning of the

text.
 32

3.3 Role of the Researcher

The main point of research instrument in conducting the research is the role of the

researcher. Researcher‘s role is explained as follows:

3.3.1 Data collector.

The researcher collected as many as possible data to support the study.

3.3.2 Data classifier.

Another important role done by the researcher was classifying which of

the gathered data used to support the analysis.

3.3.3 Data analyzer.

The researcher classified the data analysis.

3.3.4 Data interpreter.

In this phase, the researcher gave comment and interpretation based on the

research findings.

3.4 Procedures of Data Collection

There were some steps in collecting qualitative data. The step can be seen as the

following:

3.4.1 Reading the Text

Although the research object is a song, the study focused only in analyzing the

lyric. Therefore, applying reading method was the best way to understand the

content of the lyric so that the researcher could find which part of the lyric directly

related to the research problems.

3.4.2 Gathering primary data

 33

After understanding the content, the researcher carefully selected any parts of the

lyric which showed the relation between the lyric and research problem and

gathered it as the primary data.

No Word/Phrase Interpretation Source

Table 3.1

3.4.3 Gathering data support

The researcher gathered data support such as the definition and purpose of each

point which were used as the analysis tools of the topic on which the lyric was

written, as well as reading and understanding some other researches and journals

with similar topic.

3.4.4 Interpreting

By using the help of data support, the researcher has done an interpretation to

decipher the condensed meaning inside the lyric as the data which were analyzed

in this research.

3.4.5 Classifying and Inventorying

In the next step, the researcher listed the interpreted data into a distinctive table.

The table consists of the number of data which were collected based on the

problem statements. The table also shows what research question has been

answered by the data.

 34

Heuristic Reading Table

Form of Data Heuristic Data Position

No (Word) Interpretation (Verse/Line)

Table 3.2

Hermeneutic Reading Table

Form of Data
Author‘s Life Social/Cultural Hermeneutic
No (Word/Phrase/ Moment Phenomena Interpretation
Clause)

Table 3.3

3.4.6 Reporting

The researcher did his report using the classified data of the research. The data

was reported in the form of word(s), phrase(s) or sentence(s). The table is also

used to give a clear correlation between the subject matter and Dylan‘s concept of

ideal future world.

3.4.7 Concluding

From the data drawn in the previous steps, the last step done was concluding the

whole interpretations of the data in order to answer the problem questions.

 35

3.5 Procedures of Data Analysis

After the data are obtained, the next task of the researcher was to analyze the data.

In this phase, the researcher applied a descriptive qualitative technique in

analyzing the data. According to Semi (1993: 23), a qualitative study does not use

numbers but prioritizing the appreciation and the interaction between the concepts

being studied empirically. Moleong (2000: 6) says qualitative research is the data

found or collected in the form of words, images and not numbers. The approach

applied by the researcher was poetic semiotics approach of Michael Riffaterre. It

was intended to dismantle Dylan‘s real concept of ―Blowin‘ In The Wind‖ song

lyric. There were some steps to do in applying poetic semiotic s approach. The

steps can be seen as the following:

3.5.1 Describing the explanation of Dylan’s concept of peaceful world

The first step done in this analysis was applying what so called ―first step reading‖

or heuristic reading. The text was analyzed linguistically based on the language

conversion according to the dictionary meaning. In this phase, the reading was

applied in sequence, from the first until the last line of the lyric. The researcher

gave the meaning word by word, phrase by phrase and then line by line until he

got the actual meaning of the whole parts. The next step to do was applying what

so called hermeneutic reading. Hermeneutic reading was applied by modifying the

actual meaning obtained from the first reading phase using the background

knowledge which the researcher has and also using the references from outside

the text which were decoded to get an in depth understanding about the text

content. Ultimately, the researcher pulled the matrix out to get a clear sense of
 36

literary works. Matrix should be abstracted from the text and it is not explicitly

appear (Riffaterre, 1978: 13-21, in Pradopo, 2007: 227). Matrix is the keyword to

understand the whole concept, the idea, and the theme of the text. Matrix can be a

word; can also be a phrase, or a simple sentence.

3.5.2 Explaining the background cultures which influence Bob Dylan

The researcher knows that Blowin‟ In The Wind song basically constructed from

the influence of a certain or some cultures. It can be previous literary works that

the writer has read or a culture which exists around him that forms his idealism. In

this phase, the step the researcher has already done was finding out what so called

―hypogram‖. Hypogram is the background influence that becomes foundation of

the text creation although it is not implicitly appear (Nurgiyantoro, 2010: 51). By

finding out the hypogram, the researcher was able to describe the cultures which

influence Bob Dylan in creating his literary works.

 CHAPTER IV

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

This discussion chapter consists of two subchapters. The first subchapter focuses

on digging out the order humanism for peace in the lyric, and the second chapter

is discussing the culture and some life moments which shown by Bob Dylan

through his Blowin‟ In The Wind.

4.1 Blowin’ In The Wind’s Representation Idea of Humanism

In this subchapter, the researcher provided his finding regarding to the meaning of

Blowin‟ In The Wind song lyric began from word-to-word until the whole

meaning that implicitly or explicitly directed to the order of humanism for peace.

The finding results are provided as the following:

4.1.1 Meaning of the Song

―Blowin‘ In The Wind‖ song lyric sung by Bob Dylan consists of six stanzas with

two until six lines in each stanzas. The songwriter revered ―Blowin‘ in the

Wind,‖ released on his second studio LP The Frewheelin‟ Bob Dylan, is a protest

song and an appeal to the masses for justice and fortitude. The song is one of

Dylan‘s simplest just three verses but also one of his strongest. The song

questions moral fiber and exposes a harsh reality in an effort to find a better life in

the world and peace.

The first line of the first stanza was written How many roads/must a man

walk down//. The word How in this line is used before an adjective or adverb to

ask about the extent, degree, age, etc, and means in what way or manner (Hornby,

37
 38

1995:580). The word many is used with plural, a large number of people or things

(Hornby, 1995:715). Roads means in compounds of or concerning such a way or

ways (Hornby, 1995:1016). How many roads meant the songwriter want to ask

the way. Then, the word must is used in the present to say that something is

necessary for advising and recommending and must is used when the speaker

expects or order something to be done is used (Hornby, 1995:766). The form a is

used before consonant sounds, and man means an adult male human being

(Hornby, 1995:711). The word walk means a journey on foot, esp for pleasure or

exercises (Hornby, 1995:1337). And then, down means from a high or higher

point on something to a lower one (Hornby, 1995:349). Furthermore, if the line

was interpreted as a whole sentence, the intact meaning that could be depicted was

that the songwriter wanted the listener to ask quetion about how many way an

adult human beings to take a journey. Then, it was followed by the next line

which was written Before you call/him a man//. The opening word of the line was

before. The word before is always associated with at an earlier time (Hornby,

1995:95). In this case, the word before referred to the first line. Before referred to

ask quetion to the listener about how many way an adult human beings to take a

journey. The word you is a pronoun which means the person or people being

addressed (Hornby, 1995:1389). The word you directly referred to the listener of

this song. Hereafter, the pronoun you was followed by an action verb call. Call

means to say something loudly to attract somebody‘s attention. It also means to

describe or address somebody or something (Hornby, 1995:158). According

Hornby 1995:562 him means a male person or animal reffered to to earlier

 39

(Hornby, 1995:562), the object form of he, and used as the object of a verb of a

preposition. The word a man, the form a is used before consonant sounds, and

man means an adult male human being.. Thus, this line was convincing to the you

which referred to the listener to ask something to describe adult human beings. In

the next line, it was written How many seas/must a white dove sail//. The word

how and many has same meaning with previous line, means in what way or

manner and used with plural, a large number of people or things. The word seas

derived from the word sea which means the salt water that covers most of the

earths surface and surrounds its continents and islands (Hornby, 1995:1057). Then

it was followed by the -s suffix which modified the noun sea into singular form. It

gave information that the the salt water that covers most of the earths surface and

surrounds its continents amd islands referred was not only one. It could be two,

three or many. The word must and a has same meanings with previous line. White

means of the very palest colour, like fresh snow or milk (Hornby, 1995:1360).

Dove means a bird of the pigeon family (Hornby, 1995:348). Then, the word sail

means to travel on water water in a ship or boat using sails or engine power.

(Hornby, 1995:1037). Thus, How many seas/must a white dove sail// meant what

the way which a palest bird of the pigeon family to travel on the salt water that

covers most of the earths surface and surrounds its continents and islands. The

next line is Before she sleeps/in the sand//. The word Before is always associated

with earlier time. In this case, the word before referred to the previous line. She

meant a female person or animal mentioned earlier or being observed now

(Hornby, 1995:1083). The word sleeps derived from the word sleep which means
 40

the natural state of rest in which the eyes are closed and the mind and body are not

active or conscious (Hornby, 1995:1112). Before she sleeps meant a female

person or animal mentioned to the natural state of rest in which the eyes are closed

and the mind and body are not active or conscious at earlier time. The word in

means at a point within the area or space of something. The word the used for

referring to somebody or something that has already been mentioned or can be

understood (Hornby,1995:1236). The last word of this line was sand. The word

sand means very small fine grains of rock (Hornby, 1995:1040). Thus, this line

gave a depiction about the area or space of somehing in very small fine grains of

rock. And then the next line is Yes and how many times/must the cannon balls

fly//. The word yes meant answering and saying that something is true or correct

and used for asking what somebody wants (Hornby,1995:1388). And meant

conjuction used to connect words of the same part of speech, phrases or clauses

(Hornby.1995:39). The word how in this line is used before an adjective or adverb

to ask about the extent, degree, age, etc, and means in what way or manner

(Hornby, 1995:580). The word many is used with plural, a large number of people

or things (Hornby, 1995:715). The word times meant all the years of the past,

present, and future (Hornby, 1995:1251). In this clause word must and the had

same meanings with the previous line. The word cannon meant an old type of

large heavy gun that fired solid metal balls (Hornby, 1995:163), and the word

balls derived from the word ball which meant a round object, either solid or

hollow, used esp for kicking, hiting or throwing in games (Hornby, 1995:78). The

word fly meant to move through the air (Hornby, 1995:453). Thus, this line gave a
 41

depiction about what way all the years of the past, present, and future an old type

of large heavy gun that fired solid metal balls hitting to move through the air. The

next line Before they are/forever banned//. Before had same meaning with the

previous line, and word they used to refer to a person without specifying the sex,

eg after someone or somebody (Hornby, 1995:1239). Are meant second person

singular present. The word forever meant for all time (Hornby, 1995:462). The

word banned derived from the word ban which means to forbid something

officially (Hornby, 1995:79). Furthermore, if the line was interpreted as a whole

sentence, the intact meaning that could be depicted in earlier time to forbid

something officially for all time.

The first line of the second stanza was written the answer my friend/ is

blowin‟/in the wind//. The beginning of the line began with the word the, which

used for referring to somebody or something that has already been mentioned or

can be understood. The word answer meant a thing that is said, written or done as

a response, to deal with a question or a situation (Hornby, 1995:42). My in this

clause meant of or belonging to the speaker or writer (Hornby, 1995:770). The

word friend meant a person one knows and likes, usually somebody who is not a

member of one‘s family (Hornby, 1995:473). And then the word is present tense

third person singular of be. The word blowin‟ derived from the word blow which

means of the wind or a current of air to be moving or to be moved by the wind

(Hornby, 1995:117). The word in means at a point within the area or space of

something. The word the used for referring to somebody or something that has

already been mentioned or can be understood (Hornby,1995:1236). And the last

 42

word in this line is wind. The word wind meant air moving as a result of natural

forces (Hornby, 1995:1366). Thus, this line depicted that if the situation that the

songwriter described a person one knows and likes, usually somebody who is not

a member of one‘s family thing that is said, written or done as a response is

moved by the wind. Then, the next line is the answer/ is blowin‟/in the wind//.

Same like the previous line, only without my friend. The answer meant a thing

that is said, written or done as a response, to deal with a question or a situation. Is

blowin‟ meant of the wind or a current of air to be moving or to be moved by the

wind. And then the clause in the wind meant point within the area or space or

something on the air moving as a result of natural forces.

The first line of the third stanza was written Yes and how many years/can

a mountain exist//. It started with the clause yes and how many which indicated

the songwriter‘s demand. He wanted the listeners to ask something. Something

here pointed to a picture of human‘s daily life. And the word years meant the time

taken by the earth once to travel around the sun, about 365 days (Hornby,

1995:1387). The word can in this clause is used to express confusion, doubt or

surprise, with the following word a and mountain which meant a mass of very

high rock, often going up to a point (Hornby, 1995:759). The word exist meant to

be real or actual, to have being (Hornby, 1995:402). Furthermore, if the line was

interpreted as a whole sentence, the intact meaning that could be depicted the

songwriter want the listeners to ask about the time taken by the earth once to

travel around the sun, to have being a mass of very high rock. The next line was

written Before it‟s/washed to the sea//. The word Before is always associated with
 43

earlier time. In this case, the word before referred to the previous line. It‟s in this

clause meant a fact or situation already known, implied or happening. The fact is

on the previous line. The word washed derived from the word wash which meant

to make something clean by using water and usually soap (Hornby, 1995:1342).

And then word to and the which meant in the direction of something, towards

something (Hornby, 1995:1255). The last word in this line is sea. Sea meant the

salt water that covers most of the earths surface and surrounds its continents and

islands (Hornby, 1995:1057). After all, this line depicted the situation already

known at earlier time to make something clean by using he salt water that covers

most of the earths surface and surrounds its continents and islands. The next line

was written Yes and how many years/can some people exist//. It started with the

clause yes and how many years again which indicated the songwriter‘s demand.

He wanted the listeners to ask something. Something here pointed to a picture of

human‘s daily life. And the word years meant the time taken by the earth once to

travel around the sun, about 365 days (Hornby, 1995:1387). The word can in this

clause is used to express confusion, doubt or surprise, with the following word

some and people which meant persons in general (Hornby, 1995:858). The word

exist meant to be real or actual, to have being (Hornby, 1995:402). Furthermore, if

the line was interpreted as a whole sentence, the intact meaning that could be

depicted the songwriter want the listeners to ask about the time taken by the earth

once to travel around the sun to have being something in general. The next line

was written Before they are/allowed to be free//. The opening word of the line was

before. The word before is always associated with earlier time., and word they
 44

used to refer to a person without specifying the sex, eg after someone or

somebody (Hornby, 1995:1239). Are meant second person singular present.

Allowed from word allow meant to permit somebody or something to do

something (Hornby, 1995:31). To be meant what is tobe in the near future and the

word free meant not a slave or prisoner, allowed to go where one wants (Hornby

1995:470). Thus, this line meant persons at ealier time to go where one wants.

Next line was written Yes and how many times/can a man turn his head//. The

word yes meant answering and saying that something is true or correct and used

for asking what somebody wants (Hornby,1995:1388). And meant conjuction used

to connect words of the same part of speech, phrases or clauses (Hornby.1995:39).

Then, the word how in this line is used before an adjective or adverb to ask about

the extent, degree, age, etc, and means in what way or manner (Hornby,

1995:580). The word many is used with plural, a large number of people or things

(Hornby, 1995:715). The word times meant all the years of the past, present, and

future (Hornby, 1995:1251). The word can in this clause is used to express

confusion, doubt or surprise, with the following word a and man which meant The

form a is used before consonant sounds, and man means an adult male human

being. (Hornby, 1995:711). The word turn meant an act of turning something or

somebody around with the following word his. His in this clause meant the man.

And the word head meant the part of the body containing the eyes, nose, mouth

and brain (Hornby 1955:549). Thus line was convicing in what way an adult

human being turning the part of the body containing the eyes, nose, mouth and

brain. The last line in this stanza was written And pretend that/he just doesn‟t
 45

see//. The word and meant conjuction used to connect words of the same part of

speech, phrases or clauses and word pretend meant to make oneself appear to be

something or to be doing something in order to deceive others or in play (Hornby

1995:915). The word that in this clause is used for reffering to somebody or

something already mentioned or believed to be known or understood by the reader

or person listening. Then he which means a male person or animal mentioned

earlier or being observed now (Hornby 1995:549). The word just for something or

to do something which following doesn‟t. Which means short form does not is

used with auxiliary and modal to form the negative (Hornby 1995:789). The word

see meant to find out or discover something by looking or searching or asking.

Thus line was convicing a male person appear to be something in order to deceive

others in play to find out or discover something by looking or searching or asking.

The fourth stanza was written The answer my friend/is blowin‟ in the

wind// and the answer/is blowin‟ in the wind// which had same line and meaning

with the second stanza. The next stanza, fifth stanza in the first line was written

Yes and how many times/must a man look up//. The word yes meant answering

and saying that something is true or correct and used for asking what somebody

wants (Hornby,1995:1388). And meant conjuction used to connect words of the

same part of speech, phrases or clauses (Hornby.1995:39). The word how in this

line is used before an adjective or adverb to ask about the extent, degree, age, etc,

and means in what way or manner (Hornby, 1995:580). The word many is used

with plural, a large number of people or things (Hornby, 1995:715). The word

times meant all the years of the past, present, and future (Hornby, 1995:1251).
 46

Then, the word must is used in the present to say that something is necessary for

advising and recommending and must is used when the speaker expects or order

something to be doneis used (Hornby, 1995:766). The form a is used before

consonant sounds, and man means an adult male human being. The word look

meant to turn one‘s eyes in a particular direction in order to see somebody or

something which the following word up, which meant to or in a higher place,

position, condition, degree, etc (Hornby 1995:1311). Thus, this line gave a

depiction about what way an adult human being all the years of the past, present,

and future to turn one‘s eyes in a higher place, position, condition, degree, etc.

The next line Before he can/see the sky//. The word Before is always associated

with earlier time. In this case, the word before referred to the previous line. He

meant a male person or animal mentioned earlier or being observed now (Hornby,

1995:549). The word can in this clause is used to express confusion, doubt or

surprise, with the following word see which meant to find out or discover

something by looking or searching or asking (Hornby, 1995:1063). The word sky

meant the space seen when one look upwards from the earth, where clouds and the

sun, moon, stars appear (Hornby 1995:1110). Furthermore, if the line was

interpreted as a whole sentence, the intact meaning that could be depicted a male

person in earlier time to find out or discover something by looking or searching or

asking meant the space seen when one look upwards from the earth, where clouds

and the sun, moon, stars appear. Then, the next line was written Yes and how

many ears/must one man have//. The word yes meant answering and saying that

something is true or correct and used for asking what somebody wants
 47

(Hornby,1995:1388). And meant conjuction used to connect words of the same

part of speech, phrases or clauses (Hornby.1995:39). The word how in this line is

used before an adjective or adverb to ask about the extent, degree, age, etc, and

means in what way or manner (Hornby, 1995:580). The word many is used with

plural, a large number of people or things (Hornby, 1995:715). The word ears

derived from the word ear which means the organ of hearing (Hornby, 1995:363).

Then, the word must is used in the present to say that something is necessary for

advising and recommending and must is used when the speaker expects or order

something to be doneis used (Hornby, 1995:766). The word one meant a single,

and man means an adult male human being. The word have meant to posses or

own something (Hornby 1995:546). Thus, this line gave a depiction about what

way a single adult human being to posses or own the organ of hearing. The next

line was written Before he can/hear people cry//. The word Before is always

associated with earlier time. In this case, the word before referred to the previous

line. He meant a male person or animal mentioned earlier or being observed now

(Hornby, 1995:549). The word can in this clause is used to express confusion,

doubt or surprise, with the following word hear which meant to perceive sounds

with the ears (Hornby, 1995:552). The word people which meant persons in

general, and the word cry meant to produce tears (Hornby 1995:282).

Furthermore, if the line was interpreted as a whole sentence, the intact meaning

that could be depicted a male person in earlier time to perceive sounds with the

ears which person in general to produce tears. The next line is Yes and how many

deaths/will it take till he knows//. The word yes meant answering and saying that
 48

something is true or correct and used for asking what somebody wants. And meant

conjuction used to connect words of the same part of speech, phrases or clauses.

The word how in this line is used before an adjective or adverb to ask about the

extent, degree, age, etc, and means in what way or manner. The word many is

used with plural, a large number of people or things. The word deaths derived

from the word death which means an act of dying or being killed (Hornby,

1995:299). The word will meant to try to make something happen or to make

somebody do something by using one‘s mental powers (Hornby 1995:1365). It

meant an animal or thing mentioned earlier or being observed now, and the word

take meant to remove or obtain something from a particular place or source

(Hornby 1995:1215). The word till in this clause derived from word until which

means before the time when something happens and not after it (Hornby

1995:1311). He meant a male person or animal mentioned earlier or being

observed now, with the following the word knows derived from word know which

means to have seen, heard, or experienced something (Hornby 1995:655). Thus,

this line gave a depiction about what way an adult human being all the years of

the past, present, and future to have seen, heard, or experienced something being

killed. The last line in tthis stanza was written That too many/people have died//.

The word that in this clause is used for reffering to somebody or something

already mentioned or believed to be known or understood by the reader or person

listening. Too meant what is more to make the situation worse and the word many

is used with plural, a large number of people or things (Hornby, 1995:715). The

word people which meant persons in general, and the word have meant to posses
 49

or own something (Hornby 1995:546). Died derive from die which meant to stop

existing, to disappear (Hornby 1995:321). Thus, this line gave a depiction about a

large number of people to posses to disapeear.

Lastly, the six stanza was written similarly to the two and four stanza. The

first line of the that stanza was written the answer my friend/ is blowin‟/in the

wind//. The beginning of the line began with the word the, which used for

referring to somebody or something that has already been mentioned or can be

understood. The word answer meant a thing that is said, written or done as a

response, to deal with a question or a situation (Hornby, 1995:42). My in this

clause meant of or belonging to the speaker or writer. The word friend meant a

person one knows and likes, usually somebody who is not a member of one‘s

family (Hornby, 1995:473). And then the word is present tense third person

singular of be. The word blowin‟ derived from the word blow which means of the

wind or a current of air to be moving or to be moved by the wind (Hornby,

1995:117). The word in means at a point within the area or space of something.

The word the used for referring to somebody or something that has already been

mentioned or can be understood (Hornby,1995:1236). And the last word in this

line is wind. The word wind meant air moving as a result of natural forces

(Hornby, 1995:1366). Thus, this line depicted that if the situation that the

songwriter described a person one knows and likes, usually somebody who is not

a member of one‘s family thing that is said, written or done as a response is

moved by the wind. Then, the next line is the answer/ is blowin‟/in the wind//.

Same like the previous line, only without my friend. The answer meant a thing
 50

that is said, written or done as a response, to deal with a question or a situation. Is

blowin‟ meant of the wind or a current of air to be moving or to be moved by the

wind. And then the clause in the wind meant point within the area or space or

something on the air moving as a result of natural forces.

After doing the first approach toward the text, the researcher realized and

drew a conclusion that the whole text was the description of the songwriter‘s

idealism about the picture of future world when something which according to

him did not necessary were abolished. Hereafter, according to the researcher‘s

finding, each stanza gave a different idea and all of them were correlated. The

songwriter reveals that there is no tangible answer to his questions posed in the

first few lines. In a larger sense, he is expressing the idea that people endure harsh

injustices every day through the images of the man, dove and

cannonballs. Weather it be because of things like hunger, homelessness or

violence or anything else, those who face inequality are forced to trust only in

God and remain in suspense and indecision as they wait for justice to come (Ricks

2007).

4.1.2 Song Interpretation

Many figures admitted that music is very important for life. One of them was

Friedrich Nietzsche. He (1889) said, without music life would be a mistake. It

was the proof about how important music for every human beings. And also, this

statement defined information about how influential music, especially song which

has lyric or words inside to human life. There were many influential songs that

presented a personal feeling or idea of both the songwriter and the listener. One of
 51

them was Blowin‟ In The Wind. This song "Blowin' in the Wind" has been

described as an anthem of the civil rights movement. In Martin Scorsese's

documentary on Dylan, No Direction Home, Mavis Staples expressed her

astonishment on first hearing the song and said she could not understand how a

young white man could write something that captured the frustration and

aspirations of black people so powerfully. The song has been embraced by many

liberal churches, and in the 1960s and 1970s it was sung both in Catholic church

"folk masses" and as a hymn in Protestant ones. In 1997, Bob Dylan performed

three other songs at a Catholic church congress. Pope John Paul II, who was in

attendance, told the crowd of some 300,000 young Italian Catholics that the

answer was indeed "in the wind" – not in the wind that blew things away, but

rather "in the wind of the spirit" that would lead them to Christ. In 2007, Pope

Benedict XVI(who had also been in attendance) wrote that he was uncomfortable

with music stars such as Dylan performing in a church environment.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki)

This report gave information about the theme of the song. The theme of

the song was about peace. From the researcher‘s point of view, the song was not

only talking about peace like what most people claimed. There were found some

indication which implicitly related to the idea of humanism. By applying the

retroactive reading, the researcher dug out the signs that lead to the concepts

which were mentioned before.

From the researcher‘s point of view, the title Blowin‟ In The Wind did not

only a song. Musically, the song is as simple as can be. It is driven by Dylan‘s
 52

voice and guitar playing, and accented by harmonica sweeps – a formula that is

classically Dylan from the time he played his first shows and recorded his first

songs. The striking simplicity of the song as a whole makes it even more

impressive that it, in only three verses, promotes equality, liberty, humility and

awareness. The images of songwritter utilizes in the song are rather simplistic as

well. A man, a dove, a mountain, the sea and cannonballs are the images in the

song and they each serve their own purpose. The man symbolizes the people who

face injustices and hope for justice, and the dove is representative of peace and the

enduring struggle for harmony and equality for those people. The mountain,

strong and fortified, is representative of humanity and its rigid tendency to ignore

the lowly, but the sea represents change and true freedom that slowly erodes that

rigidity, liberating people slowly but surely. Though this may be only one

interpretation of the symbols in Blowin‟ in the Wind, rock or mountains in this

case is characteristically a symbol if firmness and strength and water and rivers a

sea in this case are characteristically symbolic of change.

4.1.2.1 Order For Peace

It was mentioned earlier in the beginning of this research that this song was the

representation of the concept of peaceful future world. It was a must for the

researcher to decipher which of the song lyric that contained the part of the

―peace‖. In his research, instead of getting some build up concepts of peace, the

researcher found some digression concepts of peace. For example, it could be

seen from the second stanza where how many seas must white dove sail, before

she sleeps in the sand? written there. A ‗white dove‘ is the universal symbol of
 53

peace, unity and harmony-or at least in the Earth. Bob Dylan asks how many of

these white doves must sail before world peace is achieved? White doves are

released in ceremonies commemorating peace, and the day that no white doves

must fly is the day that everybody is in peace. And then the next line is Yes, and

how many times must cannonball fly, before they‟re forever banned? A direct

reference to war is seen here. Cannonballs were a popular, destructive tool of war

during medieval wars. Why would they be banned? The day there is no use for a

tool of war would be the day cannonballs would be banned. And in such a day,

we can expect peace.

After those steps of analysis done, the real ―color‖ of this song finally

began to flow up. Began from understanding the meaning of each word through

heuristic reading, the lyric slowly began to leave its ambiguity. Subsequently, by

applying retroactive reading, the true meaning of Blowin‟ In The Wind appeared.

Although it is true that Blowin‟ In The Wind contains some concept of peace for

example a hope for the stop of any wars, but most of them lead into another

purpose. By grounding the analysis on some evidences, the researcher concluded

that the real purpose of the idea served in Blowin‟ In The Wind was to create a

real peaceful world. Besides, Blowin‟ In The Wind also portrayed the writer‘s life

events and some cultural phenomena that happened in the era before and after the

lyric was written. To make the description of portrayed cultures and songwriter‘s

life events understandable, the writer served his findings into another subchapter.
 54

4.2 Portrayed Cultures and Life Events of Bob Dylan

In every era there are people who challenge the status quo, who challenge

accepted practices and definitions, and who do what they feel is right to them,

often to their own detriment. In all fields of human endeavor, especially art,

progress arrives in the guise of a stranger, a stranger who suggests that perhaps

there‘s another way to see reality. By their insight, their courage, and their

willingness to be criticized, they teach people to see the world and the great

landscape within ourselves with different eyes and different ears. People like

Vincent Van Gogh and Ludwig van Beethoven have all made the world seem

richer than we could have imagined by being fearless visionaries. Another one of

these people is surely Bob Dylan.

No sane person could argue that Dylan, for better or for worse, hasn‘t

greatly influenced the culture of not only America but likely the world. He may

well have done it to a greater degree than any other artist of his era, and he‘s done

it by taking chances, by trying to find and navigate new paths, by inventing and

reinventing himself and his music, and by accepting the opinion of some that he‘s

an annoying fraud. One would be hard-pressed to find a musician or a composer

who isn‘t familiar with Dylan‘s work, or who hasn‘t been influenced or inspired

by it.

In many ways, art and music is an expression of our humanity and the

relationship of that humanity with the remainder of existence. It is a celebration of

the mystery of human experience in the act of living. Trying to understand the
 55

meaning in a sunset or the call of a songbird is of little use. Instead we must let the

thing wash over us and enjoy how it makes us feel more alive. The researcher is

not musician, but when I listen a music by Bob Dylan and in some deep way the

researcher invited into the emotional world of Bob Dylan. In that world I see

familiar faces.

Like many other literary works, a song also contains the writer‘s feelings,

ideas, and purposes. At the same time, it sometimes also tells people about a

certain events that have already happened or will be happened. So did Bob

Dylan‘s Blowin‟ In The Wind. It portrayed early 60‘s Hippie movement that

brought the concept of social protests. This movement was firstly appeared in the

west coast of USA and represented youth protest against all forms of organized

life. Hippie movement was originally a movement that came in the middle 50‘s

which were named as Beatniks. The purpose of Beatniks movement was just to

separate their existence from the common society by distancing themselves from

public life. They were practicing free life by dressing casually and tried to free

themselves from the chaos of the world through the medium of music, art, eating

vegetarian food, and psychedelic experience by practicing Zen Buddhism

meditation experimental, and also using drugs. This movement was later in the

1960s extended out of their environment. The followers of this movement began

conveying social protest in mass, including the movement for political reform,

anti-Vietnam war which was also happened at that time, human rights, student

movement, women movement, gay rights movement, and environmental

movement. From the protest movements that happened in that 60‘s, Hippie
 56

movement began to appear. They had major ideas including popularizing peace

movement and rejecting the idea of western materialism. This movement, which

firstly grew in San Francisco, was also called as ―Flower Power‖ or ―Flower

Generation‖ because in every demo they did, they brought many colorful flowers

as the representation of peace. (http://www.mortaljourney.com, 2011)

First of all, to make the relation between the song and the culture

portrayed clearer, the researcher focused in discussing Bob Dylan as the

songwriter first. In 1963, By the time of Dylan's second album, The Freewheelin'

Bob Dylan, he had begun to make his name as a singer and a songwriter. Many

songs on this album were labeled protest songs, inspired partly by Guthrie and

influenced by Pete Seeger's passion for topical songs. "Oxford Town", for

example, was an account of James Meredith's ordeal as the first black student to

risk enrollment at the University of Mississippi.

The first song on the Freewheelin' album, "Blowin' in the Wind", partly

derived its melody from the traditional slave song, "No More Auction

Block", while its lyrics questioned the social and political status quo. The song

was widely recorded by other artists and became a hit for Peter, Paul and

Mary. Another Freewheelin' song, "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" was based on

the folk ballad "Lord Randall". With veiled references to an impending

apocalypse, the song gained more resonance when the Cuban Missile

Crisis developed a few weeks after Dylan began performing it. Like "Blowin' in

the Wind", "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" marked a new direction in songwriting,
 57

blending a stream-of-consciousness, imagist lyrical attack with traditional folk

form.

Dylan's topical songs enhanced his early reputation, and he came to be

seen as more than just a songwriter. Janet Maslin wrote of Freewheelin': "These

were the songs that established Dylan as the voice of his generation someone who

implicitly understood how concerned young Americans felt about nuclear

disarmament and the growing Civil Rights Movement: his mixture of moral

authority and nonconformity was perhaps the most timely of his

attributes." Freewheelin' also included love songs and surreal talking blues.

Humor was an important part of Dylan's persona, and the range of material on the

album impressed listeners, including the Beatles. George Harrison said of the

album, "We just played it, just wore it out. The content of the song lyrics and just

the attitude it was incredibly original and wonderful."

Like what has been descripted on the Civil Right movement, Hippie

movement and Anti-War movement‘s brief explanation in the previous paragraph,

that movements promoted about world peace in its way. The peace referred was

about dignifying absolute freedom of human rights. This idea was represented in

the line “Yes, and how many deaths will it take till he knows”. That line was

representation of how Dylan protested the situation he lived that time. This line

depicted the act of protest against many wars that occurred in the 60s, especially

Vietnam War which was happened as the impact of the cold war that began after

the end of Second World War. People had much suffered living under the fear of

wars. As a man who was influenced by the idealism of hippy and also a man who
 58

understand about humanism, Dylan showed people how hippies viewed the

environment he lived as the representation of the condition of the whole world.

Furthermore, another portray related to hippie lifestyle was that in the 60s,

religion was not really popular compared to rock n‘ roll music.

 CHAPTER V

CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

This last chapter presents conclusions and suggestions. The first sub-chapter

contains the conclusions of the interpretation to answer the problems in this study.

The second sub chapter consists of some suggestions for further study.

5.1 Conclusion

After reaching the end of the analysis, the researcher concluded that “Blowin‟ In

The Wind” had a deeper meaning than most people know. Began from finding

some points that lead the interpretation into in-depth analysis, the researcher

found that most of the song content related into the order for peace that originally

based on the idea of humanism. Considering the song became the anti-war of

1963, it expresses to the audience the meaning of life, war, and starting a fresh

path to freedom. The deeper meaning is that violence is not the answer and that

freedom should be granted to everyone. Dylan‘s is showing that the answers for

freedom, peace to ending the war is right in front of us, its “The answer is blowin‟

in the wind.” All that needed is for people to speak up and act out.

Not only that, from Blowin‟ In The Wind, the researcher also found a

portrayed culture of a counterculture movement called ―Hippie Movement‖ that

appeared in the 60s era as the continuation of ―Beatniks‖ movement that existed in

the early 50s. As far as the researcher achieved through his research, Blowin‟ In

The Wind directed the relation between the spread of hippie movement culture and

some major phenomena that happened around 60s. And the line “How many times

59
 60

must the cannon balls fly” that actually written as a critique against so many wars

that happened during that period of time for example Vietnam War which was

happened around 1957 until 1975.

5.2 Suggestion

It is a truth that the existence of a song has become the part of mankind‘s daily

life. Songs are often become the representation of what someone feels or thinks.

Like one the researcher had analyzed for example, Blowin‟ In The Wind was also

the representation of a hope for a better world. But after applying some steps of

research to understand the content of Imagine, the researcher found that the

referred better world was not fit for all people, it was only the ideal world for a

certain people. From this research, what should be pointed is that not all good or

famous song contains a good lyric. What the researcher suggested for everyone

through the conclusion of this study is about being aware against any kind of

literary works especially in this case is song. People should be carefully

understand every bit of any song lyric they are listening to in order to know,

whether the song content is harmful or useful for their mind and personality. One

of many ways that the researcher suggested is by deepening their background

knowledge through reading books. By deepening their background knowledge,

they will easily sense anything odd from the song they are listening to and they

can recognize any signs related to problem they find so that they are able to

analyze it.

For the purpose of student‘s development in criticizing literary works, the

researcher suggestion is to give more attention in analyzing song as one of many

 61

literary works. This suggestion is based on the consideration that song has a huge

range of problems to be analyzed. The reason is because firstly, in nowadays song

is the most influential literary work compared to other literary works. Secondly,

the rapidity of song development also becomes the researcher‘s consideration in

suggesting students to take a closer look upon the problems exist inside a song.

Lastly, just like a poem, a song lyric has a complexity so that it can conceal its

true meanings and purposes. Those are some reasons why song has a huge range

of zones for analysis to take place in. Ultimately, the researcher hopes that the

study of song lyric as one of many types of literary works can be introduced more

frequently in literary criticism subject because in fact, song has a wide room to

deal with an analysis although it is not as thick as a short story or a novel.

 62

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Faruk. 2012. Metode Penelitian Sastra, Sebuah Penjelajahan Awal.

Yogyakarta:Pustaka Pelajar.

Haryanto Al-Fandi. 2011. Desain Pembelajaran yang Demokratis & Humanis.

Jogyakarta: Ar-Ruzz Media.

Hornby, A.S. 1995. Oxford Advance Learner‟s Dictionary of Current English.

Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Grout, D.J., & Palisca, C.V. 1988. A History of Western Music. New York: W. W.
Norton & Company.

Kurtz, Paul. 1973. Humanist Manifesto Volume 1 & 2. New York: Prometheus
Books.

Lamont, Corlis. 1990. The Philosophy of Humanism (7th Ed). London: The
Continuum Publishing Company.

Piliang, Y.A. 2003. Hipersemitika: Tafsir Cultural Studies Atas Matinya Makna.
Yogyakarta: Jalasutra.

Polkinghorne, D.E. 1983. Methodology for the Human Sciences: Systems of

Inquiry. New York: SUNY Press.

Pradopo, Rahmat Djoko. 1987. Pengkajian Puisi. Yogyakarta : Gadjah Mada

University Press.

Rifaterre, Michael. 1978. Semiotics of Poetry. Bloomington: Indiana University

Press.

Rees, R.J. 1973. English Literature: An Introduction for Foreign Readers.

London: Macmillan Education.
 63

Rummel, R.J. 1981. Understanding Conflict and War Vol.5: The Just Peace.
California: Sage Publication.

Sandy, L.R. & Perkins Jr, G.R. 2008. Topics in International Law and Human
Rights: Topic #2: Reading Assignment for ‗What is Peace?‘. The Nature of
Peace and Its Implications for Peace Education. 1-6.
Semi, M. A. 1984. Anatomi Sastra. Padang: FPBS IKIP Padang.

Sylado, Remi. 1983. Menuju Apresiasi Musik. Bandung: Angkasa.

Teeuw, A. 1982. Khazanah sastra Indonesia: beberapa masalah penelitian dan

penyebarluasannya. Jakarta: Balai Pustaka.

Uniawati. 2007. Mantra Melaut Suku Bajo: Interpretasi Semiotik Riffattere. Ph.D
Dissertation, Diponegoro University.

Zoest, A.V. 1993. Semiotika: Tentang Tanda, Cara Kerjanya, dan Apa yang Kita
Lakukan Dengannya. Jakarta: Yayasan Sumber Agung.

Begaja, Kathryn. 2014. The Summer of Love: Hippie Culture and The Beatles in
1967. Journal of Student Scholarship. (16). 1-6.

Masatsugu, Matsuo. 2011. Concept of Peace in Peace Stud: A Short Historical

Sketch. Journal of Peace Study. 13-15.

Ayunindya, Fury. (2013, March 10). Lagu Sebagai Media Penyampai Pesan.
Retrieved from http://www.kompasiana.com/furyayunindya/lagu-sebagai-
media-penyampai-pesan_55208c66a33311da4646cfc0.

Morgan, Jim. (2004, February). On the History of Human Nature. Retrieved from
https://www.solidarity-us.org/node/487.
Wallace, Mark. (2011, February 27). What is Lyric Poem?. Retrieved from

http://wallacethinksagain.blogspot.co.id/2011/02/what-is-lyric-poem.html.
 64

APPENDIX 1 DICTIONARY MEANING

Heuristic
Interpretation Data Location
No Word Source
(Dictionary (Verse/Line)
Meaning)
Verse 1, line 1
Verse 1, line 3
Verse 1, line 5
to ask about the
Verse 3, line 1
extent, degree, age,
1 How Hornby, 1995:580 Verse 3, line 3
etc, and means in
Verse 3, line 5
what way or manner
Verse 5, line 1
Verse 5, line 3
Verse 5, line 5
Verse 1, line 1
Verse 1, line 3
Verse 1, line 5
Verse 3, line 1
a large number of Verse 3, line 3
2 Many Hornby, 1995:715
people or things Verse 3, line 5
Verse 5, line 1
Verse 5, line 3
Verse 5, line 5
Verse 5, line 6
compounds of or
3 Road concerning such a Hornby, 1995:1016 Verse 1, line 1
way or ways
the present to say
that something is
Verse 1, line 1
necessary for
Verse 1, line 3
advising and
Verse 1, line 5
4 Must recommending and Hornby, 1995:766
Verse 5, line 1
must is used when
Verse 5, line 3
the speaker expects
or order something
to be done is used
Verse 1, line 1
Verse 1, line 2
an adult male human Verse 3, line 1
5 Man Hornby, 1995:711
being Verse 3, line 5
Verse 5, line 1
Verse 5, line 3
 65

a journey on foot,
6 Walk esp for pleasure or Hornby, 1995:1337 Verse 1, line 1
exercises
from a high or
higher point on
7 Down Hornby, 1995:349 Verse 1, line 1
something to a lower
one

Verse 1, line 2
Verse 1, line 4
Verse 1, line 6
Verse 3, line 2
8 Before at an earlier time Hornby, 1995:95
Verse 3, line 4
Verse 3, line 5
Verse 5, line 2
Verse 5, line 4

the person or people

9 You Hornby, 1995:1389 Verse 1, line 2
being addressed

to describe or
10 Call address somebody or Hornby, 1995:158 Verse 1, line 2
something
a male person or
11 Him animal reffered to to Hornby, 1995:562 Verse 1, line 2
earlier
the salt water that
covers most of the
earths surface and
12 Sea Hornb, 1995:1057 Verse 1, line 3
surrounds its
continents and
islands
the very palest
13 White colour, like fresh Hornby, 1995:1360 Verse 1, line 3
snow or milk

a bird of the pigeon Verse 1, line 3

14 Dove Hornby, 1995:348
family

to travel on water
water in a ship or
15 Sail Hornby, 1995:1053 Verse 1, line 3
boat using sails or
engine power
 66

a female person or
animal mentioned
16 She Hornby, 1995:1083 Verse 1, line 4
earlier or being
observed now
the natural state of
rest in which the
eyes are closed and
17 Sleep Hornby, 1995:1236 Verse 1, line 4
the mind and body
are not active or
conscious

very small fine

18 Sand Hornby, 1995:1040 Verse 1, line 4
grains of rock

Verse 1, line 5
answering and
Verse 3, line 1
saying that
Verse 3, line 3
something is true or
19 Yes Hornby, 1995:1388 Verse 3, line 5
correct and used for
Verse 5, line 1
asking what
Verse 5, line 3
somebody wants
Verse 5, line 5
Verse 1, line 5
Verse 3, line 1
conjuction used to Verse 3, line 3
connect words of the Verse 3, line 5
20 And Hornby, 1995:39
same part of speech, Verse 3, line 6
phrases or clauses Verse 5, line 1
Verse 5, line 3
Verse 5, line 5
all the years of the Verse 1, line 5
21 Time past, present, and Hornby, 1995:1251 Verse 3, line 5
future Verse 5, line 1
an old type of large
22 Cannon heavy gun that fired Hornby, 1995:163 Verse 1, line 5
solid metal balls
a round object, either
solid or hollow, used
23 Ball esp for kicking, Hornby, 1995:78 Verse 1, line 5
hiting or throwing in
games
to move through the
24 Fly Hornby, 1995:453 Verse 1, line 5
air
used to refer to a
Verse 1, line 6
25 They person without Hornby, 1995:1239
Verse 3, line 4
specifying the sex,
 67

eg after someone or
somebody

Verse 1, line 6
26 Forever for all time Hornby, 1995:462

to forbid something
27 Ban Hornby, 1995:79 Verse 1, line 6
officially
Verse 2, line 1
a thing that is said,
Verse 2, line 2
written or done as a
Verse 4, line 1
28 Answer response, to deal Hornby, 1995:42
Verse 4, line 2
with a question or a
Verse 6, line 1
situation
Verse 6, line 2
Verse 2, line 1
of or belonging to
29 My Hornby, 1995:770 Verse 4, line 1
the speaker or writer
Verse 6, line 1
a person one knows
and likes, usually Verse 2, line 1
30 Friend somebody who is not Hornby, 1995:473 Verse 4, line 1
a member of one‘s Verse 6, line 1
family
Verse 2, line 1
of the wind or a Verse 2, line 2
Blow current of air to be Verse 4, line 1
31 Hornby, 1995:117
(-ing form) moving or to be Verse 4, line 2
moved by the wind Verse 6, line 1
Verse 6, line 2
Verse 2, line 1
Verse 2, line 2
air moving as a
Verse 4, line 1
32 Wind result of natural Hornby, 1995:1366
Verse 4, line 2
forces
Verse 6, line 1
Verse 6, line 2
the time taken by the
earth once to travel
33 Year Hornby, 1995:1387 Verse 3, line 1
around the sun,
about 365 days
a mass of very high
34 Mountain rock, often going up Hornby, 1995:759 Verse 3, line 1
to a point
to be real or actual,
35 Exist Hornby, 1995:402 Verse 3, line 1
to have being
 68

to make something
Verse 3, line 1
36 Wash clean by using water Hornby, 1995:1342
Verse 3, line 3
and usually soap

in the direction of
Verse 3, line 2
37 To something, towards Hornby, 1995:1255
Verse 3, line 4
something

Verse 3, line 3
38 People persons in general Hornby, 1995:858 Verse 5, line 4
Verse 5, line 6

to permit somebody
39 Allow or something to do Hornby, 1995:31 Verse 3, line 4
something

not a slave or
40 Free prisoner, allowed to Hornby, 1995:470 Verse 3, line 4
go where one wants

used to express
confusion, doubt or Verse 3, line 3
41 Can Hornby, 1995:161
ability to do Verse 3, line 5
something
to move or make
42 Turn something move Hornby, 1995:1284 Verse 3, line 4
round a central point
the part of the body
containing the eyes,
43 Head Hornby, 1995:549 Verse 3, line 5
nose, mouth and
brain
to make oneself
appear to be
something or to be
44 Pretend Hornby, 1995:915 Verse 3, line 6
doing something in
order to deceive
others or in play
the space seen when
one look upwards
from the earth,
45 Sky Hornby, 1995:1110 Verse 5, line 2
where clouds and the
sun, moon, stars
appear
 69

to perceive sounds
46 Hear Hornby, 1995:552 Verse 5, line 4
with the ears

meant to produce
47 Cry Hornby, 1995:282 Verse 5, line 4
tears

an act of dying or
48 Death Hornby, 1995:299 Verse 5, line 5
being killed
 70

APPENDIX 2 INTERPRETATION

Form of Data Author’s Life Social/Cultural Hermeneutic

No Moment Phenomena Interpretation
(Word/Phrase/Clause)
The songwriter
presents the
How many roads must - listeners with the
-
1 a man walk down image of a man who
has walked down
these way of life.
This man has been
through good times
and bad, and the
songwriter asks
how much a person
must endure
Before you call him a - - through his or her
2 man
life before they are
acknowledged for
their achievements,
or even simply
noticed by others in
the world
Dylan lived in The world was
the 60s era in chaos. The
where the Cold War, a
majority of continuation of
The symbol of
3 ...white dove... youngsters the World War
peace
expressed their II became a
critique toward menace for
Vietnam War. most countries
in the world.
The rise of The songwriter
4 ...can a mountain exist -
Hippie relates it with the
 71

movement in question of how

America. long people will
need to exist to be
truly free, implying
that true freedom is
a seemingly endless
journey

The referred people

who were could ask
5 …my friend… - -
the same question
with Dylan‘s

The song addresses

one person or many
people, but yet
again, the
Sex and drugs
songwriter can find
revolution in
no tangible answer
the 60s, the
Pretending he just for his question. For
6 - golden age of
deosn‘t see example, why is it
Rock n‘ Roll
that world leaders
music and
continually turn a
religion crisis.
blind eye and a deaf
ear to social
disasters such as the
war in Vietnam?

The world in peace.

7 ...the sky... - - Freedom and justice
realize.

The rise of sex

and drugs
…they‘re forever The world war is
8 - revolution in
banned end.
the 60s and
religion crisis.
 72

The world was

in chaos. The
Cold War, a
continuation of
The impact of war
the World War
9 ...people cry - many people are
II became a
suffering.
menace for
most countries
in the
world.the 60s.

The world was

in chaos. The
Cold War, a
continuation of
The world in chaos.
...deaths will it take till the World War
10 - Many people
he knows II became a
deaths.
menace for
most countries
in the
world.the 60s.

The songwriter
exposes the naked
The war truth that the
Dylan‘s lived in between answers to his
the 60s era America and questions are
where the Vietnam which simply out of our
The answer is blowin‘ majority of was happened reach, and we may
11
in the wind youngsters during 1957 never find them.
expressed their until 1975 and We can only hope
critique toward 1968 was the for justice and hope
Vietnam War. worst moment that the call for
of that war. courage in ―Blowin‘
in the Wind‖ is
heard far and wide.
 73

APPENDIX 2 INTERPRETATION

Form of Data Author’s Life Social/Cultural Hermeneutic

No Moment Phenomena Interpretation
(Word/Phrase/Clause)
The songwriter
presents the
How many roads must - listeners with the
-
1 a man walk down image of a man who
has walked down
these way of life.
This man has been
through good times
and bad, and the
songwriter asks
how much a person
must endure
Before you call him a - - through his or her
2 man
life before they are
acknowledged for
their achievements,
or even simply
noticed by others in
the world
Dylan lived in The world was
the 60s era in chaos. The
where the Cold War, a
majority of continuation of
The symbol of
3 ...white dove... youngsters the World War
peace
expressed their II became a
critique toward menace for
Vietnam War. most countries
in the world.
The rise of The songwriter
4 ...can a mountain exist -
Hippie relates it with the
 74

movement in question of how

America. long people will
need to exist to be
truly free, implying
that true freedom is
a seemingly endless
journey

The referred people

who were could ask
5 …my friend… - -
the same question
with Dylan‘s

The song addresses

one person or many
people, but yet
again, the
Sex and drugs
songwriter can find
revolution in
no tangible answer
the 60s, the
Pretending he just for his question. For
6 - golden age of
deosn‘t see example, why is it
Rock n‘ Roll
that world leaders
music and
continually turn a
religion crisis.
blind eye and a deaf
ear to social
disasters such as the
war in Vietnam?

The world in peace.

7 ...the sky... - - Freedom and justice
realize.

The rise of sex

and drugs
…they‘re forever The world war is
8 - revolution in
banned end.
the 60s and
religion crisis.
 75

The world was

in chaos. The
Cold War, a
continuation of
The impact of war
the World War
9 ...people cry - many people are
II became a
suffering.
menace for
most countries
in the
world.the 60s.

The world was

in chaos. The
Cold War, a
continuation of
The world in chaos.
...deaths will it take till the World War
10 - Many people
he knows II became a
deaths.
menace for
most countries
in the
world.the 60s.

The songwriter
exposes the naked
The war truth that the
Dylan‘s lived in between answers to his
the 60s era America and questions are
where the Vietnam which simply out of our
The answer is blowin‘ majority of was happened reach, and we may
11
in the wind youngsters during 1957 never find them.
expressed their until 1975 and We can only hope
critique toward 1968 was the for justice and hope
Vietnam War. worst moment that the call for
of that war. courage in ―Blowin‘
in the Wind‖ is
heard far and wide.