Reflection - "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carrol"

The intorductory material for this poem immediately hit home for me. My book has the story of Carrol's death already highlighted so my eyes went right there. I thought instantly of my own family because I am one of nine kids; and Carrol had ten kids. There is a line that reads, "Hattie Carroll was the mother of ten children." It mentions nothing else but that one line has so much meaning attached to it that nothing else needs to be said.

As far as the actual poem goes, I found myself questioning why Dylan repeated, "But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,/ take the rag away from your face./Now aint the time for your tears." However ,when I got to the end of the poem and read "For now's the time for your tears" I was able to draw a conclusion. Dylan was sending the message that there's no point in wasting your time crying over murder/crime because these things happen every day. The real issue is that there is no justice for these crimes. Instead of crying over what is happening, cry over what is NOT happening. Dylan is implying a call for action.