Translation of the first and second stanza:

Oh, dove sei stato figlio mio dagli occhi blu?

E dove sei stato mio caro?

Sono inciampato sul fianco di dodici montagne nebbiose

Ho camminato e strisciato su strade sinuose

Ho camminato in mezzo a sette foreste tristi

Ho visto dozzine di oceani morti

Sono stato a mille miglia dall'entrata di un cimitero

Ed è una forte, è una forte, è una forte, è una forte

È una forta pioggia che cadrà

Comprehension:

•1.       The son has been in lots of places because he was at war.

•2.       The second stanza is linked to the fist one because also in this stanza every line has the same phrase "I saw" at the beginning as in the first one the repetitive phrase "I've been" begins the all the lines.

•3.       I think the only positive image is in the fourth stanza when the protagonist says that a girl gave him the rainbows Maybe this girl would fight for peace.

•4.       At the end of the song the protagonist will stand in the ocean until he starts sinking.

•5.       At first, Bob Dylan has retained the structure of the traditional ballad. In fact the ballad is a dialogue between a mother and his son, and then he has retained some features that are typical of ballads, as for example the repetitions of the same words or phrases, as for example "I've been", "I saw", "Heard", ..., the alliterations (misty mountains, stepped seven sad,...),and the incremental repetitions.

•6.       The most of sound devices make the rhythm slow. In fact there are alliteration in M or in D and they create weariness that the protagonist felt fighting then there are open vowel sounds as A or E that create the sensation that the time passed very slowly. All of these sound devices create the fear and the solitude of the protagonist.

Interpretation:

•1.       The adjectives in the first stanza create a dead, destroyed world without plants or animals. It seems as if it is a black and white world, without colors and without hope. All the organisms of this world just suffer and the hate is the only thing that has survived.

•2.       Wolves: this word could mean that babies are surrounded by bad men that would only kill others

Black branch: maybe it is the body of a black man that bleeds continuously

A room full of men: maybe this room is all the places where the protagonist went

Tongues broken: maybe this word mean that the future of innocent people was broken by bad men

•3.       Maybe the issue is that some people have tried to say or to do something to end the war but nobody has listened to them.

•4.       In the last stanza the tense is changed because there the protagonist says what he will do. At the end of the ballad the protagonist has lost his hope in fact he decided to go to die so he isn't a ray of hope.

•5.       Both Lord Randal and this ballad are tragic stories. The first one is about a tragic love story where the protagonist was betrayed by his lover while this ballad is about war. Also war and the hate of some people betrayed good men betraying the hope of them