Jens Thorsgard

Dr. Mayers
English 1B
23 September 2013
Heroes, written as a song by David Bowie in 1977, is an ironically optimistic poem.
Through a series of contradictory statements that evoke images of victory and defeat framed by
absolutes like For ever and ever and followed by Just for one day, an abstract sense of
voluntary self-delusion is created. The title itself appears in quotation marks, and throughout the
poem, the word Heroes is capitalized (Bowie 1) as if it were a proper noun, thereby elevating
the stature of its symbolism as well as creating irony. It is Bowies use of irony that conveys to
the audience the central tone and meaning of Heroes.
There seems to be two cycles or parts to the poem, the first being thirty-three lines long
and the second being the remaining thirty-four. The first lines, I / I will be king / And you /
You will be queen are metaphors so clich they create the sense that the relationship between
the author and his love interest is ill-fated. The next lines, Though nothing will / Drive them
away/ We can beat them / Just for one day introduce an undefined force them that exists as a
Goliath-like entity throughout the poem. Although it is made clear that the outside forces
antagonizing the apparent couple cant be overcome permanently, there is hope given that a
temporary reprieve can be obtained. The next stanza, beginning with And you / You can be
mean / And I / Ill drink all the time is the least figurative, and most personal of the poem.
Here, a more realistic image of maintaining an ill-fated romance is brought forth. It bears
mentioning that Bowie was in the final years of his first marriage when he wrote Heroes,
and was also drinking heavily as a result of his struggles with cocaine addiction.(Pegg XX) The

following lines state simply that these character faults being mean and drinking all the timedont need to be rectified because, as Bowie puts it, were lovers / And that is that. It is then
revealed that Though nothing / Will keep us together, our Heroes can become thus after they
steal time. Although the notion of two lovers stealing time has a romantic ring to it, it is
used here as an illustration of the impossible conditions under which fate would allow the
aforementioned relationship to continue. These somewhat uplifting messages that follow the
fairly depressing realities are examples of the omnipresent irony throughout the poem. The
fourth stanza continues the exposition of Bowies apprehension regarding his marriage, albeit in
a more symbolic manner. Line twenty-five begins, I wish you could swim / Like the dolphins /
Like dolphins can swim. As the ability to swim like a dolphin would seem to have very little
benefit to someone battling time and fate, it must represent a desire to be wild and free in an
expanse devoid of the trappings of human society. That Bowie expresses this as a wish for his
counterpart as opposed to a wish for himself suggests that either he sees himself as a hindrance
who is keeping the other from being free (if could were to mean were allowed to,) or that he
is able to be unencumbered, and is being held back by the others inability to do so (if could
were to mean were able to.) Bowies personal history reveals that he himself was unable to
swim in real life, so there definitely are literal foundations for this figurative aspiration, but for
some reason he projects them onto someone else. The stanza continues through line thirty-three
with the refrain decrying insurmountable odds before proposing again We could be Heroes, but
this time, instead of For ever and ever, the reign as Heroes will be Just for one day.
The second half of the poem begins with the fifth stanza at line thirty-four, being an
approximate reiteration of the first stanza, but this time following We can be Heroes / Just for
one day with We can be us / just for one day. Here, there is a feeling that just by the act of

one being true to ones inner self, a heroic act is being performed. The generally gloomy
undertones of Heroes could be attributed to the repressive and uneasy Cold War atmosphere
that it was conceived in. The sixth stanza contains a powerful allusion to the wall that once
separated East and West Berlin, where Bowie wrote the poem. Although remaining within the
lyrical framework set by the previous half, the second half brings in a symbolic narrative of our
fated couple engaged in a passionate exchange next to the wall as The guns / Shot above our
heads / And we kissed / As though nothing could fall. There is then in line fifty-one a shame
mentioned that could be a reference to a forbidden love and the shameful feelings being on the
other side of the wall. The use of shame is again, a reference to the Berlin Wall, since the
citizens of West Berlin (where Bowie was during the composition of Heroes,) referred to the
wall as The Wall of Shame. It seems that here, the heroic deed is also the temporary removal of
the shame of post-war Berlin, and again, it is ironically a knowingly nave and idealistic act that
precipitates it. Bowie later confirmed that he was actually inspired by his musical colleagues
extra-marital affair that was unfolding in his presence during the recordings of this period.
(Buckley 321) The poem then enters the eighth and final stanza, in which the refrain is repeated:
We can be Heroes three times, then Just for one day, one more We can be Heroes, and then
the closing six lines. The final six lines, beginning at line sixty-two read, Were nothing / And
nothing will help us / Maybe were lying / Then you better not stay / But we could be safer / Just
for one day. This final admission that perhaps all of the grand romanticisms offered so far
might be no more than wishful thinking puts the irony employed in Heroes in a proper
perspective. It is the discrepancies between the symbols employed and the realities they
(mis)represent that are the substance of that irony.

The symbols that fortify the irony in Heroes are almost hyperbolic. The symbols of a
king and a queen conjure images of power, infallibility, success and honor, but it is clear that the
realities being dealt with are those of very ordinary people experiencing vulnerability, fear, and
shame. The most notable symbols, which have been discussed almost to the point of irrelevance,
are the Heroes. A hero is one who can overcome great adversities, or at least be noble in the
face of them, but the heroes of this poem seem to have hope of neither winning their battles nor
showing great courage in such endeavors. The closing sentiments, Nothing will help us are as
anti-heroic as sentiments get. The word nothing appears eight times in Heroes exactly as
many times as the word Heroes appears. The poem is just as much a contemplation on
nothingness as it is a celebration (albeit ironic) of heroism. The guards shooting above the heads
of the lovers next to the wall symbolize the strength and ruthlessness of the figurative them.
They are not only the actual soldiers that were present near the Berlin Wall in the late seventies
and the Cold War powers that were threatening humanity itself, but also the unstoppable forces
of time and fate that destroy everything regardless of the hopes and efforts of man.
Heroes employs no formal rime scheme, but being written specifically as a lyrical
accompaniment to music, it does produce a rhythm when read. Most of the lines are between
three to six syllables, and in the delivery provided by Bowie himself, there are long pauses
between lines that instill a sense of grandeur after each statement. The poem is sixty-seven lines
long with eight stanzas and manages to have twenty-six unique end-sounds. The end rimes that
do occur in the poem are usually the ends of two contradictory statements, like Nothing will
drive them away / We can beat them / Just for one day. The repetition of this dynamic creates a
rhythm like that of a handsaw in that as soon as one hears the qualifying push of Nothing will
drive them away, they can expect the relaxed pull-back of Just for one day. Through the

course of singing the song, Bowie increases the volume of his voice, graduating from a calm
speaking-voice to a desperate scream. Then, the strong accents are put on words that carry
urgent meanings, like wall, guns, kissed, and shame. The open form of Heroes
makes the delivery seem deliberate and efficient, as if finding more words to rhyme with each
other would only slow down the delivery of the message.
Heroes is not actually the feel-good poem that has been attached to everything from
Microsoft commercials to Olympic athletes entering a stadium. The powerful diction and
symbolism used throughout reinforce the most important aspect of its poetic weight, and that is
its ironic treatment of the notion of being a hero. The message here seems to be that if one wants
to survive, they should live in the present and focus on being a genuine human being. Otherwise,
they can attempt to cheat fate for some short-lived glory, but being a hero isnt what it appears
to be. As opposed to poetic legends like Robert Frost or Langston Hughes, Bowie was a rich
rock star traveling the world with drugs and groupies. It is conceivable that he was using his
own life to point out the detached and hollow lifestyles of the heroes of the modern age.