Monday, February 24, 2014

Dylan-2

While Blake had been a strict monogamist, Dylan appears to have adopted 
a rather promiscous sexual perspective  (which of course was rampant
among his 'flower-children' contemporaries).  Dylan's experience gave
him a relaxed stance in his early years from which he struck a decisive
blow at some of the unreal sex attitudes of the American, corrupted by
greedy advertisers and other sickies.

Dylan and his associates may sound the death knell to 'machismo', at
least to the North American manifestation of it, the sick masculine
attitude that trivializes sexual relationships and makes of 'woman' a
plaything.  Dylan allowed Playboy to interview him, but his sexual
values undercut the Playboy philosophy, and very likely undercut
Playboy sales as well, more than the anti-pornographers had ever
done.

Dylan disparaged possessiveness and jealousy as much as Blake had
done two centuries before with Visions of the Daughters of Albion;
(See Chapter 8)
The Argument

"I loved Theotormon
And I was not ashamed
I trembled in my virgin fears
And I hid in Leutha's Vale!
I plucked Leutha's flower,
And I rose up from the vale;
But the terrible thunders tore
My virgin mantle in twain."
The 'terrible thunders' was the Rape by Bromion.
Among the things that Blake is trying to say here is a blanket condemnation of British marriage 
customs that were considered commercial affairs rather than those based on love.  Love meant
little to Dylan; the slogan 'make love not war' involved what came to be known as 'free love'.
Between Dylan and the other youth of the sixties, they put an end to the Vietnam War and
perhaps unfortunately marriage as well.  The serial marriage of movie stars and such took the
place of true monogamy.  

Dylan had several children, but we know little about their fate.


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