Dylan’s “Hard Rain” appears to have at least two voices: the opening refrain question that begins each verse addressed to “you” and then the question’s first-person answers. And the refrain lines that end each verse (“And it’s a hard,” etc.) could be thought of as being in third person.
In English, “you” can be pretty ambiguous: it can re…
Dylan’s “Hard Rain” appears to have at least two voices: the opening refrain question that begins each verse addressed to “you” and then the question’s first-person answers. And the refrain lines that end each verse (“And it’s a hard,” etc.) could be thought of as being in third person.
In English, “you” can be pretty ambiguous: it can refer to the reader/listener, or to someone the speaker/singer is talking to in the poem/song, or the speaker/singer themself, or even as a less-affected substitute for “one.”
So in this song the “you” could be Dylan addressing himself (he has blue eyes, a detail he added to the “Lord Randall” questions used in the song) and then answering himself. Usually context makes it clear what “you” means, but maybe not in this case.
Dylan’s “Hard Rain” appears to have at least two voices: the opening refrain question that begins each verse addressed to “you” and then the question’s first-person answers. And the refrain lines that end each verse (“And it’s a hard,” etc.) could be thought of as being in third person.
In English, “you” can be pretty ambiguous: it can refer to the reader/listener, or to someone the speaker/singer is talking to in the poem/song, or the speaker/singer themself, or even as a less-affected substitute for “one.”
So in this song the “you” could be Dylan addressing himself (he has blue eyes, a detail he added to the “Lord Randall” questions used in the song) and then answering himself. Usually context makes it clear what “you” means, but maybe not in this case.
https://www.bobdylan.com/songs/hard-rains-gonna-fall/