“God on Our Side" by Bob Dylan”

Bob Dylan wrote "God on Our Side" in 1964, amid the American Civil Rights Movement. Bob Dylan wrote the song by emphasizing the conflict between residual philosophies such as patriotism and white supremacy (Dylan). The song was written during a period when latent philosophies such as racial injustice were influencing the majority of the population, especially African Americans. The album depicts the personal frustrations and injustices that occur in society. The song has a clear religious feature and calls on God to be on the side of winners of wars. It ends with the line If God is on our side, He will stop the next war. Most Americans refer to their nation as “God’s own country” and with the high-pitched pretention, this song was written to confront the bloody history of the nation (Dylan). Dylan reveals the negative impact of a shallow-minded perspective of the world in the first seven stanzas of the poem. He draws a conclusion in the last two stanzas and takes a deep thought of God’s will, individual responsibility and destiny.





Poetic devices in the song

Some of the poetic devices used in the poem include imagery, illustrated by the abstract enemy and war, as referred by the poet. The poet has also used irony, for instance, the first line “Oh my name it is nothing, my age it means less, the country I come from is called the Midwest”. The words mock modesty and contrast the stand of the Midwesterners, and what makes them proud (Dylan). Initially, there was no organized social structure and every person was fighting for their rights commonly referred to as survival of the fittest. The poem has allusions as the author refers to the forgiveness of the Germans in the first world war in line 34 and 35.

Personal opinion of the song

In my opinion, the music fits the message of the lyrics since the moral basis of the nation is to fight for the good of the nation. God may not stop the oncoming wars, but He can intercept at the start of war, similar to Dylan’s idea. The music is a meditation on the issues affecting the society, even in the present times, thus, it is insightful.















Work cited

Dylan, Bob. "With God on our side." The Times They Are a Changing (1964).