“And I saw that his face looked just like mine

Oh! Lord! Just like mine!”

 War has long figured as a theme in poetry; some of the world’s oldest surviving poems are about great armies and heroic battles. While Homer, the legendary ancient Greek writer, idealized his combatants and their triumphs, the treatment of war in poetry has grown increasingly more complex since the time of Homer. The numerous conflicts of the 20^th century especially the First World War have led various poets to write on the horrifying effects of war.

“Oh! Good old-fashioned war!’’

War is thus so fatal that it forces a man to act inhumanly against his own race. This is what scared John Brown the most; that his enemy whom he intended to kill looked just like him. Both the soldiers, at the end, were victims of the same war. They were in no way connected with the cause or consequences of the war, yet they were duty-bound and had to kill their own brethren.

 “She smiled and went right down, she looked everywhere around

But she could not see her soldier son in sight…’’

One of the main themes of Dylan’s song is the fatality of war. No specific war forms the background of the poem and hence gives it a universal appeal. Since time immemorial wars are being fought at the cost of innocent lives.

“But as all the people passes, she saw her son at last

When she did she could hardly believe her eyes”

The supposedly just causes behind these wars are unknown not only to the civilians but also to the soldiers fighting at the warfront. They are made pawns in the hands of war-mongers for their own selfish purposes. Dylan’s song through the character of John Brown depicts how fatal a war can be.

”While she couldn’t even recognize his face!

Oh! Lord! Not even recognize his face”

John Brown, a young handsome soldier goes off to fight in a war. His mother feels proud on seeing her son dressed in a soldier’s uniform. But of, the gruesome reality is that the same war which wins him medals leaves him disfigured. He comes back home with his face all shot up, his hand blown off and with a metal brace around his waist.

“I was on the battleground, you were home…acting proud

You wasn’t there standing in my shoes”

This war though does not kill him physically, but leaves him shattered, both physically and mentally. His condition becomes so wretched that he could hardly speak.

 “I was on the battle-ground; you were home….acting proud

You wasn’t there standing in my shoes”

John Brown’s mother, who had so happily seen him off at the railway station while he was going to war, is so appalled by his condition that she turns her face away from him. In a war, a man kills another man.

“While she couldn’t even recognize his face!

Oh! Lord! Not even recognize  his face

All the soldiers fighting in the war, though fighting on behalf of their respective countries, are themselves victims of the same war. They have to endure both physical and mental hardships on the battlefield. Their bodies get disfigured and at times they become crippled. The worst part is that they get killed by the enemy.

“Oh his face was all shot up and his hand was all blown off

And he wore a metal brace around his waist

He whispered kind of slow…”