Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

A Place That You Can Call Home

2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 32; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03007760802700761

1740-1712

Robin A. Morris,

Poetry Analysis and Criticism

Abstract The songwriter most closely connected with the lack of a "direction home" may best be understood by investigating what he means by "home." In recent years, concepts of home and exile have come to the forefront of literary critical thought, as ecocritics and postcolonial critics seek to theorize space. To understand the psychological dimension of these theories, I look to Freud's Freud, Sigmund. 1963. Studies in Parapsychology, Edited by: Rieff, Philip. New York: Collier. [Google Scholar] oedipal struggle, amplified by Lacan and Kristeva. Kristeva names the place of preoedipal connection the chora. Often associated with the paradisal garden, in Dylan's Dylan, Bob. 2004. Chronicles: Volume One, New York: Simon & Schuster. [Google Scholar] work that place of womb‐like safety is absent, and has been replaced by an emergence of something akin to Longfellow's forest primeval, a symbol that resonates more strongly with the American continent. This study begins by examining 1965's "Like a Rolling Stone" in which homelessness deprives one of the markers of identity—a state both terrifying and liberating. It continues with Frankie Lee's downfall two years later, precipitated by mistaking "paradise" for the "home down the road." Whether it is a house or a home, or a brothel, the desire for stasis or shelter is a temptation to be fought. The gift of "Shelter from the Storm" is proffered but not actually received in 1975 and the desire comes to its climax in 1978's "We Better Talk this Over" where the narrator is "exiled," though, for the song's addressee, there is still "a place that you can call home." That place starts to come into focus in the dream‐like experience of "Highlands," in 1997, where the narrator wanders through the bizarre worlds of Boston and old age. The pull of the north and of a liminal border country remain mental constructs, and nine years later, the narrator is still "just walkin'," continuing the seemingly ceaseless movement through "this weary world of woe," existing in a state of pure bodily action that counters the linguistic demands of originality. The chora remains compelling and repulsive—the source of impulse for both motion and song, Notes 1. Eliot's Eliot, T. S. 2001. Four Quartets, London: Faber. 1946 [Google Scholar] Four Quartets begins in a rose‐garden, where a dry pool appears to be "filled with water out of sunlight." Then, in the third section of "East Coker," Eliot Eliot, T. S. 2001. Four Quartets, London: Faber. 1946 [Google Scholar] includes a passage lifted almost directly from Saint John of the Cross's Ascent of Mount Carmel St John of the Cross. 1958. Ascent of Mount Carmel, New York: Doubleday. Trans. E. Allison Peers [Google Scholar]: In order to arrive at that wherein thou hast no pleasure Thou must go by a way wherein thou hast no pleasure In order to arrive at that which thou knowest not, Thou must go by a way that thou knowest not. In order to arrive at that which thou possessest not, Thou must go by a way that thou possessest not. In order to arrive at that which thou art not, Thou must go through that which thou art not. (I, xiii, 11) These lines present the essence of Saint John's teaching of the via negativa and strike me as resonant with Dylan's Dylan, Bob. 2004. Chronicles: Volume One, New York: Simon & Schuster. [Google Scholar] "Ain't Talkin'." Many thanks to Callie Gladman and Bob Dylan's Music Company for permission to quote from the lyrics of Bob Dylan, including extended quotations from the following songs: "Ain't Talkin'" Copyright ©2006 Special Rider Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Reprinted by permission. "The Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest" Copyright ©1968; renewed 1996 Dwarf Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Reprinted by permission. "Down the Highway" Copyright ©1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Reprinted by permission. "The Gates of Eden" Copyright ©1965; renewed 1993 Special Rider Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Reprinted by permission. "Highlands" Copyright ©1997 Special Rider Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Reprinted by permission. "Like a Rolling Stone" Copyright ©1965; renewed 1993 Special Rider Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Reprinted by permission. "Nettie Moore" Copyright ©2006 Special Rider Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Reprinted by permission. "Rollin' & Tumblin'" Copyright ©2006 Special Rider Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Reprinted by permission. "Spirit on the Water" Copyright ©2006 Special Rider Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Reprinted by permission. "We Better Talk This Over" Copyright ©1978 Special Rider Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Reprinted by permission.