Meaning Analysis | Row, row, row your boat | Screwed up

Row, row, row your boat / Gently down the stream / Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily / Life is but a dream

“Row, Row, Row Your Boat” --- charming nursery rhyme or vain attempt to inoculate children against the existential meaninglessness of life? Hidden below the glossy surface of this beloved song is a dark and bitter commentary on the human condition. Let’s talk about it.

The most critical line is, of course, the final one. “Life is but a dream.” There’s just no way to pussyfoot around the implications of that lyric ---what we’re telling kids here is that life has no purpose. The song isn’t suggesting that life resembles a dream, ie: surreal, sometimes ideal and sometimes horrific. If it was, the line would be “Life is like a dream.” No, instead it’s suggesting that life is literally a dream, ie: non-real, an elaborate façade, a hallucination in which your actions are utterly inconsequential.

At first glance, “Life is but a dream” is just a confident embrace of solipsism, the theory that the self is all that can be known, for sure, to exist. Ah, if only it were that simple. Pay close attention to the word “but,” the most important word in the whole song. Now it’d be one thing to say, “Life is a dream.” Ok, fine, maybe life is a dream, maybe we are trapped in the Matrix, is that really so awful?

YES. That’s the song’s blunt reply to your question, via the word “but.” It’s a belittling “but,” hurling condescension at any hopes you may have for this pleasant fantasyland. If I were to say, “You are but an American” you wouldn’t think I had a very high opinion of your nationality, now would you? In the sick, twisted mind of the narrator, dreams are a sad sub-optimal reality, and “life” is no better.

So now what? Now that you’ve told your doe-eyed son or daughter that he/she may actually be the lone inhabitant of a pathetic little dream world, how do you suggest coping with that deeply unsettling realization? “Just keep rowing your fucking boat kid, and be happy about it. “

At last we can begin to appreciate the rhyme’s first three lines: a scathing critique of capitalism conveyed through the tragic hero of the boat-rower. “Rowing” represents man’s futile attempt to find purpose in an indifferent, meaningless universe. The boat-rower feels that he’s exercising his free will, choosing his own path in his own vehicle. That’s why he’s merry, even when confronted with the fact that life is “but a dream.”

But is he really free?

First of all, did the boat-rower really choose to row this boat, or was he coerced into tedious manual labor by the same sick son of a bitch who later reveals that reality is a big shitty hallucination?  Doesn’t “Row, row, row” sound an awful lot like a command, an order even? The poor boatman can’t even choose how to row --- he has to do it merrily and gently (which is pretty difficult, by the way, since rowing requires a lot of physical exertion and is a violent motion). He’s not in control of his body or his mind, now that you’ve told him what to do, how to feel, and where to go.  

Second of all, I hate to point out the obvious, but why the fuck would you row a boat downstream? You could just as easily let the current carry you. Sounds merrier to me. Rowing serves no purpose whatsoever. Whether you row or not, you will still arrive at the same destination, “down the stream,” which is clearly a euphemism for death (let’s not lose sight of the obvious literary allusion to the boatman of Greek mythology). What you're telling your kid here is that free will is an illusion meant to keep you busy, to keep you distracted from the inescapable meaningless of reality.  

And all you’re really doing here is preparing your son or daughter for the capitalist rat race, for a lifetime of endless “rowing” (aka working) and forced contentment, despite the fact that nothing is in your control and life only exists in your head. Don't you see it? God, even the hypnotic melody of the rhyme is meant to lull you into complacency and disguise the nursery rhyme’s true message: that life isn’t a dream, it’s a nightmare.

Life is But a Dream’ Meaning

Most nursery rhymes and fairy tales have a disturbing background and meaning. So when my siblings and I were lying around in my room and we started singing ‘Row your Boat’, I figured it’d have some demented origin. Like rowing to your doom, being drowned or being forced down a path to your own beheading.
Surprisingly, this one has a good meaning. And when I looked it up, I was smacking my forehead. Because I already knew what it was a metaphor for. What can I say? Sometimes I forget it’s not all burning people to death and water dragons.
Duh. I love the meaning behind this nursery rhyme.
It’s a metaphor for life. We all agree on that. But there are multiple theories on how to break it down, what each object and line mean.
There are two main ideologies and a few random thoughts on specific verses.

ONE

Your boat = your life.

The stream = time. Water is always moving, so is time.

Row, row, row = you’re constantly rowing, constantly moving through life, constantly working at it. You don’t just row for a little while and then rest. Uh-uh. No breaks. No rests. Life. Keep moving.

Gently = It’s not a race. You aren’t racing toward the end – um, your death –are you? Gently row through life, don’t hurry. It’s the trip (life) not the destination (death).

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily = attitude, personality, character. How you look at things, positive versus negative, optimist versus pessimist. Be happy, be passionate on the way. They say attitude is everything. Enjoy your life, enjoy the ride.

Life is but a dream = Dream or nightmare, we have the ability to choose what our life will be. We cannot decide what happens, but we can decide who we are, what we become, how we react, how we cope. It’s our life, our dream. And our choice.

TWO

Boat = body. It’s the vessel for your movement, changes, growth, learning, development, awareness.

Row, row, row = you have to work for what you want in life, have to apply effort to get where you want to go. Unless you row, your boat won’t go anywhere. Be careful of distractions that could pull you away from your goal. But don’t be so focused, have such blinders on, that you don’t remain open to change, to life, to possibilities.

Gently down the stream = let go of the past, move toward your future. Row gently because to push or force or fight the natural direction your life is leading you will only create stress and upset.

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily = you may already have it hard. Don’t make it worse. Water can be rough but you can get through. A negative attitude will not help, in fact, it will make things worse. Use the challenges you face to make you a better person.

Life is but a dream = touches on the dreamlike state of reality. The world is physical around us, yet thoughts and emotions change, shift, alter, transmutation making something less physical, solid. Dreamlike.

RANDOM

• Row, row, row your boat:

You have to row your own boat. No one else’s. Don’t try to control other people. Control yourself.

Rowing takes skill. Practice makes perfect.

When someone is rowing on their own, it implicates free will and the choices they make that decide which paths they take.

When rowing with others, it touches on the need to work together, in unity to reach the intended goal.

• Gently down the stream:

Force creates resistance. Don’t resist if you can flow along with the water’s natural path and make something of it. This is different than fighting the challenges, the bumpy stream’s road.

• Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily:

Take challenges in stride, meet them with a joyous attitude and a smile. Go with the flow.

This is not a rehearsal, not a dry run, not a trial run before the real thing. This is the real thing. You might as well enjoy it. Don’t waste time being upset longer than need be or by holding grudges when you could be happy instead.

• Life is but a dream:

So stop making it a nightmare.

It has religious overtones of how life is simply the dream before the consequences/rewards.

Life is only a dream, not real. Everything you do is meaningless. (I don’t like this one.)

Life is a short moment. Only a dream when compared to our eternal soul’s existence.

OUR LIFE

With that in mind, remember that it’s talking about your life for a reason. Ask yourself;

Row, row, row your boat.

Where are you going? Are you headed where you want to be headed? Are you working for what you want? Are you trying to control someone else’s life (with good or bad intentions)? Are you trying to control things you know you can’t/shouldn’t? Are you trying to race through your life? Are you learning, growing, achieving what you want? Are you open to positive change? Open to new paths?

Gently down the stream.

Are you fighting things for the sake of fighting them? Are you fighting for what you believe in without being cruel or self-destructive? Do you approach your life with hope? Have you worked through and let go of your past? Are you enjoying the journey, the process, whatever it is that you’re doing right now? Are you hurrying through things you could instead be enjoying? Are you flexible when things change? Do you adapt well to change?

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily.

Are you happy? Why or why not? Are you holding grudges or focusing on the negative to the point that you’re creating your own heartache? Are you approaching things with a positive attitude? Do you try to find the silver lining? Are you passionate about what you’re doing? Are you aware that regardless of trials, pain, suffering and challenges, there is always hope?

Life is but a dream.

There are three definitions of a dream :

1: “a succession of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep.”

2: “a vision voluntarily indulged in while awake; daydream; reverie.” “an idea or vision that is created in your imagination and that is not real”

3: “something that you have wanted very much to do, be, or have for a long time”

Are you helping your life to be a dream or a nightmare? How can your life be more dreamlike; what would you need to do/achieve/change to shape your life into a dream – your dream? Are you making the right choices for yourself? If your life is a nightmare, what can you do to work toward bettering it?

“Row, row, row your boat,

Gently down the stream.

Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,

Life is but a dream.”

Just remember: Water is rough but boats are tough.