"Isis" Analysis by Jasmine

Love and Death

Have you ever wondered if true love existed or if it’s just an invention of fiction writers? That it only exists in movies, because out of the 7 billion people in the world there couldn’t truly be someone just for you. If true love did exist and you’ve found your soul mate, what if he/she had passed away? What had once been two souls combined to form one is now just a shred of what is left of the heart. In Bob Dylan’s song “Isis”, it symbolizes how the love for someone never dies, even if they’ve passed away into heaven.

Marriage symbolizes the love for someone, it connects them.  Although two people who get married are both individuals, they become one. Marriage symbolizes forever, and the love someone could have for someone else. “I married Isis on the fifth day of May” (1). “But I could not hold on to her very long” (2). He had married his love, but was not able to hold on to her.  After a typical death, there is a ceremony for them, a funeral. “Went in to a laundry to wash my clothes down” (8). He is cleaning his clothes for the funeral of his wife.

If true love and heaven existed, someone would be able to see their loved one again after the passing of themselves. “How she told me that one day we meet up again” (22). Before she has died, she told him not to worry because they will see each other again one day. “And things would be different the next time we wed” (23). Once they meet, the problems they once had will be vanished and their relationship will be restored.

In the movies when someone is about to perish, they see “the light” and know that they are going to a better place, and perhaps say a quick prayer. That’s what the man in Bob Dylan’s song “Isis” has done. “I said a quick prayer and I felt satisfied” (40). “Blinded by sleep and in need of a bed. I came in from the East with the sun in my eyes.” (43-44). He is finally in heaven and at peace.

 In Bob Dylan’s song “Isis”, it reveals a love that is so strong that it can never be broken even through death. True love never vanishes, even if someone has lost their soul mate. They will be forever in your heart and mind. “Isis oh Isis you mystical child. What drives me to you is what drives me insane. I still can remember the way that you smiled. On the fifth day of May in the drizzling rain” (50-53).
Read "Isis" lyrics here.