“For having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition,” (“All Nobel Prizes in Literature”). Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016. Unprecedentedly, he became the first singer and songwriter who had ever earned the Nobel Prize in Literature in history. The plausible reasons that Bob was elected mainly reflect in the poetic lyrics Bob has in his songs and the enormous historical effects lyrics show. Bob Dylan, a rock singer, songwriter of folk and country music, was born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota. Later on, he started writing songs about chronicle social issues, such as wars and civil rights, in college. In 1961, Dylan signed his first recording contract and emerged as one …show more content…
“Lyrically, “Tangled Up in Blue” chronicles the rise and fall of two relationships: between an unnamed “he” and “she” and between a first-person narrator (also unnamed) and the same “she.”” (Barkhorn). In order to correctly express the emotion of the protagonists in the song, Dylan basically utilizes all five senses, especially sight, touch, and hearing: “I heard her say over my shoulder/“We'll meet again someday on the avenue.”” (Dylan 24, 25). Dylan uses “dark, sad night” to connect the color with the emotion. Darkness represents sadness; it shows that “he” feels so upset that they split up. “Drift down” vividly tells the readers that “he” never finds a long-time job because he cannot find interests in doing these jobs but thinking about “her”. Dylan also makes images by using disparate phrases. The quote “But I never did like it all that much/And one day the ax just fell” (Dylan 29, 30). shows tough life for people during the postwar era. By combining five senses with some specific words and phrases, Dylan transforms ordinary song lyrics into poetry, thus making him worthy of the Nobel Prize for
While it is widely rumored that many of Bob Dylan’s songs were written while he was under the influence of various drugs, I’m not so sure that those rumors are accurate. Following a 1991 interview conducted by Paul Zollo with Bob Dylan, Zollo stated that “There’s an unmistakable elegance in Dylan’s words, an almost biblical beauty” and that “Dylan’s answers give you a lot to think about while not necessarily revealing much about the man”. (Zollo 2) The same can be said with regard to many of the lyrics of Dylan’s songs. The lyrics to “Mr. Tambourine Man”, for example, are wildly descriptive and sometimes confusing and can leave a listener (or a reader) open to many different interpretations, some more complex than others, with no real meaning ever being clearly stated.
The poem starts off with the speaker recounting an event that occurred the other day. We see him moving about a blue-walled room “ricocheting slowly” from one thing to the next (1). He seems to be in search of something, perhaps inspiration for his next poem, as he moves from items like the typewriter to the piano, from the piano to the bookshelf, then to an envelope on
At only 22, he was crowned the voice of a generation. His audiences became mesmerized with his expressive lyrics and soulful harmonica. He changed the way the world looks at songwriting and protest, and inspired countless future musicians from the moment he stepped up on the stage in his railroad hat, denim jacket, and harmonica brace. However, it is clear that there is so much more behind Bob Dylan than just a rough voice and a collection of poetic songs. As one man said about Dylan’s early days in Greenwich Village, “There’s a quality of determination and of will that some people have that when they’re doing something, they’re really doing it and you
In 1975, Carter sent a copy of his book to musician Bob Dylan because of his commitment to the struggle of civil rights. After Dylan read the book, he came to the prison where Rubin was staying and talked with him. When he left he knew that Carter was innocent and also wanted to preach the truth. He wrote a song called “Hurricane” and it was all about Artis and Carter’s unfair trial.
The pattern made by the alliteration and assonance makes the poem so easy to remember and also easy imagine. In this way, it is possible to get the feeling of hearing the blues also which was described by the speaker in the poem. There is also an overall effect of becoming familiar and understanding how the blues echoed through the head of the speaker.
The Nobel Prize for Literature is an outstanding prize that honors extraordinary people for their works in literature. It honors people that have changed literature. On October 13, 2016 you awarded Bob Dylan with the Nobel Prize in Literature. This marks him as the first musician ever to win this prize. Many people agree with your decision, while others are not delighted with this fact. I agree with the committee to honoring Bob Dylan with the Nobel Prize in literature “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”
The poem begins with using “melodies” as an image. In the first phrase, “Like melodies draw it to me softly through the mind,” the word “melodies” seems to be symbolic of thoughts or memories. These melodies are like a tune that you cannot get out of your head, a memory that he is unable to forget.
“Sunshine seemed like gold,” (line 4) and “Whole damn world’s turned cold,” (line 5). The poet
Unlike other forms of literature, poetry can be so complex that everyone who reads it may see something different. Two poets who are world renowned for their ability to transform reader’s perceptions with the mere use of words, are TS Eliot and Walt Whitman. “The love song of J Alfred Prufrock” by TS Eliot, tells the story of a man who is in love and contemplating confessing his emotions, but his debilitating fear of rejection stops him from going through with it. This poem skews the reader’s expectations of a love song and takes a critical perspective of love while showing all the damaging emotions that come with it. “Song of myself”, by Walt Whitman provokes a different emotion, one of joy and self-discovery. This poem focuses more on the soul and how it relates to the body. “Song of myself” and “The love song of J Alfred Prufrock” both explore the common theme of how the different perceptions of the soul and body can affect the way the speaker views themselves, others, and the world around them.
The Nobel Prize for Literature was not rewarded to the deserving writer. You have awarded Bob Dylan the Nobel Prize for Literature on October 13, 2016 degrading dedicated writers around the world. After dropping out of college in the 1960’s to pursue an occupation in which he was already well known as the times “most loved folk poet”, he turned to singing and writing rock-type songs with anti war messages. Whether he did “create new poetic expressions within the great American tradition” he has not proven himself worthy of such a significant award. Such a legendary award offered to many other brilliant writers, should be received by someone who can and will continue to change the world. This award could help out developing writers, developing countries, and should not be handed out single handedly.
The early 1960s was a time of extreme social issues such as the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement; everyone was looking for their own voice in this time of adversity. A young Bob Dylan arises to the spotlight and sings songs speaking of protest and originality, expressing societal dissatisfaction felt by not only himself but by his entire generation. In the 1960s Dylan wrote many protest songs that people of his generation found themselves connecting to, leading way to a counterculture aside from popular music which also paved a way for introspective song writing.
The poem in Up-Hill means to me that someone is struggling. I believe this because they are asking if there will be a place to rest when it later on becomes dark and the hours began to slow down. This person is worried about meeting other wayfarers at night and does not want to be stood up longer in the night than he already has. The person in the story does not want to be weak but yet they need help finding a place to stay. We all want to be strong in life and not want to have to rely on other people for help, especially people who do not have a good relationship. The last time I felt like this person in Up-Hill was when I was starting basketball for the first time in high school. I did no know how hard it was going to be, but at the same
This theme is brought through the song by showing multiple literary devices. Such as “I'm the one at sail, I’m the master of my sea”. This metaphor shows the realization and empowerment that oneself can give in a depressing situation. This simile “Falling like ashes to the ground, Hoping my feelings they would drown” compares his feeling of sadness and depression to ashes, and wanting them to drown and vanish, from his life. This line, “All the hate that you’ve heard has turned your spirit to a dove” explains how all of the hate that he has experienced and gone through has turned his feelings around, and decided to look on the bright side of things. Personally I think this is a great
The composition of the poem is very loose with only two stanzas and a lot of verse lines, some of which only consists of one word. The verse lines with only one word suggest that the reader also has to interpret the way the poem is read; not only the message and theme. Bluebird also has an unusual graphical look that confine, just like Bukowski’s
In her poem, "Dylan" in lines 4 and 5, she writes, "Her hair was a halo of warm light / and color dripped off her tongue" (23). The reader can interpret just from those two lines the creativity and imagination not only in that one poem, but also in all poetry. The description of hair being a halo of warm light allows the reader to use his or her own imagination to perceive that image in whichever way they would like. Creative writing can be determined by many other things not only image or structure of how the poem is set into stanzas, but what is left up to the reader for interpretation. Jewel writes in "Cautious" in lines 23-29, "an open vessel / whose function it was / to be filled / until my consciousness / could return and / spit out / the bad seeds" (18). After reading these lines the reader can be left with different feelings and emotions that vary from disgust or simplicity. This is just another example of how poetry is creative writing.