Charlotte

DAmbra
Lisa McAlister

ENG112-103
June 9th, 2017

1. Paglia interprets the story that she believes is right, so that allows her to suggest the song has a

particular meaning. She does not say if she is right or wrong, however I believe she is pretty

right. I think there is a lot of biblical symbolism behind the lyrics, but I also believe there is literal

meaning as well when referring to the actual Woodstock.

2. The song does contain a lot of gender neutral terms, but also includes masculinity. The writer of

the song is female, but does not use a lot of feminine terms or meanings which says something. I

think considering who the author is remains important. This is because there might be an

underlying meaning to the pronouns the author is using.

3. I believe that the performance of the song is also very important. If you speed up the beat it can

make the song feel more upbeat when maybe it is supposed to be slower with a somber tone.

The can also be said for vice versa. Different instrumentation and venues can make this happen.

4. The song was written about Woodstock, a musical festival in 1969. During that time, religion

played a big part in a lot of things. Hippies were looked upon as bad people because they were

thought of dirty, drug-ridden, impure, etc. They were thought of as anti-Jesus. Which is

interesting because the song has a lot of biblical references. If this was written and performed

today, I honestly think not a lot would change. Religion is entering politics again and it would be

interesting to see how it would be interpreted. Millennials are the new hippies now a days so I

think this could still apply.