And the Nobel prize for literature goes to ...

[Smokin Joe]

I've never forgiven him for going electric...

 

[srw]

I dreamed I saw St. Augustine
Alive as you or me
Tearing through these quarters
In the utmost misery
With a blanket underneath his arm
And a coat of solid gold
Searching for the very souls
Whom already have been sold.

"Arise, arise", he cried so loud
With a voice without restraint
"Come out ye gifted kings and queens
And hear my sad complaint
No martyr is among ye now
Whom you can call your own
So go on your way accordingly
But know you're not alone".

I dreamed I saw St. Augustine
Alive with fiery breath
And I dreamed I was amongst the ones
That put him out to death
Oh, I awoke in anger
So alone and terrified
I put my fingers against the glass
And bowed my head and cried.

That's a straightforward William Blake pastiche - 17th century poetic style meets 19th century social awareness. Except that Blake would probably have realised that St Augustine wasn't really the sort of apocalyptic preacher implied here. The poem is leaden - hidebound by its metre ("out" and "oh" in the last stanza are redundant words put in solely to make the metre work) and its rhyme scheme.

The Nobel committee have screwed up this time. Unless they offered to Stephen Sondheim and he pointed out how absurd it would be to redefine music as "literature"?

 

[User169]

I've never forgiven him for going electric...

I dont believe you. You're a liar!

 

[numbnuts]

View: https://youtu.be/exm7FN-t3PY

 

[Cycleops]

It had to come.

 

[Cycleops]

It had to come.

 

[MontyVeda]

Personally... i just don't 'get' Dylan. I've tried but he's a terrible singer (IMO), a very average guitar player (but a million times better than me) and his poetry doesn't do it for me either (I prefer Roy Harper, Ian Anderson, Hal David, Paul Simon, Ian Dury, Jarvis Cocker and many more songsmiths). I like a handful of Dylan songs but generally consider him to be highly over-rated. BUT... i love lyrics more than i do poetry, fiction or non-fiction, so I'm very happy that the Nobel prize for literature has gone to a lyricist

 

[srw]

The Nobel Committee -vs- some random bloke on the internet. Whose opinion to give greater weight to..?

That's up to everyone to decide. I'm not arguing ex auctoritate - I'm saying why I think they've got it wrong, with specific reference to the poem you posted as an example of his work. Live with it, sunshine - people disagree with people. Some people even disagree with you.

Here's the official citation:
"for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".

That does sound rather like special pleading. Your typical citation (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_in_Literature) is careful to be universal. This one is deliberately not - it narrows the field of endeavour down to "the great (?!) American song tradition".

 

[Cycleops]

His voice changes like a Chameleon. I don't like his 'protest' voice of the sixties but his later 'country' voice was very pleasant. I'd agree with @MontyVeda there are better poets, I endorse Ian Dury and add Richard Thomson.

 

[Dayvo]

I prefer the other Dylan ...... the Welsh one.

NO!!

!

Really?

 

[TwickenhamCyclist]

Aparantly it's for stuff he wrote in 1967 but it's taken the judging pannel the best part of half a century to figure out what he meant...

 

[nickyboy]

I'm surprised he got the nod ahead of Fairport Convention

 

[Scoosh]

There is also a thread running in the Cafe, so we'll Close this one and use that one instead.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

The sound doesn't seem to be working. I quite like Joan Baez.

Without sound is the best way to listen to Baez.

 

[Salty seadog]

appalling self indulgent whiney art school tripe

Really very good though....