top of page
  • Writer's pictureBridget Walsh

Poetry in favourite songs: Forever Young

Updated: Dec 6, 2020

I love looking at the poetry in songs.


This one for example:


Bob Dylan & The Band "Forever Young" - A Tribute To Bob Dylan

I understand that Bob Dylan wrote this song for his son and recorded it in 1973, almost fifty years ago. I wish the same for my grandchildren; two of them here, Ethan and Kit.

Structure:


The first three lines of each stanza begin with the words

'May God/May you', (expressing hope or possibility) the fourth line completes the final hope e.g.

'May you always do for others

And let others do for you.'


The fifth and sixth lines repeat with a different hope.

'May you build a ladder to the stars

and climb on every rung.'


My favourite lines are in the final verse:


'May you have a strong foundation

when the winds of change shift

May your heart always be joyful

May your song always be sung.'


Rhyme


Each verse rhymes on the second and fourth lines:

true/you - repeated in the second verse; then swift/shift in third verse.

The sixth line in each stanza ends in 'rung/strong/sung', rhyming with 'young' in the chorus.


Chorus

Every verse is completed by the three-line chorus

'May you stay forever young.'


Beautiful.








29 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All
bottom of page