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‘Poetry for the ear’: Bob Dylan wins Nobel Prize in literature

JANFU

JANFU

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/ente...p_hp-top-table-main_dylan-715a:homepage/story

Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday for work that the Swedish Academy described as “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”

He is the first American to win the prize since Toni Morrison in 1993, and a groundbreaking choice by the Nobel committee to select the first literature laureate whose career has primarily been as a musician.

Although long rumored as a contender for the prize, Dylan was far down the list of predicted winners, which included such renown writers as Haruki Murakami and Ngugi wa Thiong’o.
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Quite a surprise for many
Congratulations to him
 
Surprising, yes.

I don't follow the Nobels much, but it seems odd that songwriting is considered "literature"; it's certainly an art form, but I don't think it's that one.
 
Dylan is getting old, the community probably wanted to recognize him while he was still a live. Dylan do do great things for music and his collection of songs is as deserving a prize as any poets collection of poems.


I think of some musicians who have passed that are more deserving. But better Dylan than Jay-Z or Justine Bieber.



The Nobel community did give a man who likes to rain death stealthily from remote controlled devices in ever increasing amounts a peace prize so the bar seems to be pretty low in recent years.
 
Like Shakespeare coould with most other writers, Dylan could say more in a verse or two than most successful songwriters could say in their entire career. To me, "Like a Rolling Stone" is the best R&R song ever, though others were more poetic.
 
I think this is great news.

Dylan was the poet of his generation, and a damn good one!

I've often referred to him as not being able to sing, and mediocre at best playing, but an example of a guy that became a superstar based upon the strength of his writing!
 
Congrats to him
I like his music but never got the whole he is a genius thing. Not saying he wasnt just never got into him. Its aleays seemed kinda strange to me because of i am big big big into lyrics and the cultraul movement that is considered an icon of.

I really dig morrison, lennon, waters, to name a few. It would seem like i should just naturally gravitate to dillion but somehow it has always eluded me. I feel kind of jipped. Its like when you stare at a pixel art pic but the it never comes into view

Sent from my SM-G920P using Tapatalk
 
Cohen and Dylan were certainly in a league of their own in that period.
 
Some will disagree with Dylan being awarded the Nobel prize for Literature.
Consider that the committee has considered works in music be considered as poetry.
Then you will see this is a new door opened by the committee.
Consider that music can be and is poetry.
Set aside his politics.
Read the lyrics as poetry and not sung in music.

One of my favorite poets is a man that for the past number of generations has been condemned as one who blindly supported the British Empire at and during his time


Tell me what these mean to you?
48. Gunga Din. Rudyard Kipling. Modern British Poetry
YOU may talk o' gin an' beer
When you're quartered safe out 'ere,
An' you're sent to penny-fights an' Aldershot it;
But if it comes to slaughter
You will do your work on water, 5
An' you'll lick the bloomin' boots of 'im that's got it.
Now in Injia's sunny clime,
Where I used to spend my time
A-servin' of 'Er Majesty the Queen,
Of all them black-faced crew 10
The finest man I knew
Was our regimental bhisti, Gunga Din.

It was "Din! Din! Din!
You limping lump o' brick-dust, Gunga Din!
Hi! slippy hitherao! 15
Water, get it! Panee lao!
You squidgy-nosed old idol, Gunga Din!"

The uniform 'e wore
Was nothin' much before,
An' rather less than 'arf o' that be'ind, 20
For a twisty piece o' rag
An' a goatskin water-bag
Was all the field-equipment 'e could find.
When the sweatin' troop-train lay
In a sidin' through the day, 25
Where the 'eat would make your bloomin' eyebrows crawl,
We shouted "Harry By!"
Till our throats were bricky-dry,
Then we wopped 'im 'cause 'e couldn't serve us all.

It was "Din! Din! Din! 30
You 'eathen, where the mischief 'ave you been?
You put some juldee in it,
Or I'll marrow you this minute,
If you don't fill up my helmet, Gunga Din!"

'E would dot an' carry one 35
Till the longest day was done,
An' 'e didn't seem to know the use o' fear.
If we charged or broke or cut,
You could bet your bloomin' nut,
'E'd be waitin' fifty paces right flank rear. 40
With 'is mussick on 'is back,
'E would skip with our attack,
An' watch us till the bugles made "Retire."
An' for all 'is dirty 'ide,
'E was white, clear white, inside 45
When 'e went to tend the wounded under fire!

It was "Din! Din! Din!"
With the bullets kickin' dust-spots on the green.
When the cartridges ran out,
You could 'ear the front-files shout: 50
"Hi! ammunition-mules an' Gunga Din!"

I sha'n't forgit the night
When I dropped be'ind the fight
With a bullet where my belt-plate should 'a' been.
I was chokin' mad with thirst, 55
An' the man that spied me first
Was our good old grinnin', gruntin' Gunga Din.

'E lifted up my 'ead,
An' 'e plugged me where I bled,
An' 'e guv me 'arf-a-pint o' water—green; 60
It was crawlin' an' it stunk,
But of all the drinks I've drunk,
I'm gratefullest to one from Gunga Din.

It was "Din! Din! Din!
'Ere's a beggar with a bullet through 'is spleen; 65
'E's chawin' up the ground an' 'e's kickin' all around:
For Gawd's sake, git the water, Gunga Din!"

'E carried me away
To where a dooli lay,
An' a bullet come an' drilled the beggar clean. 70
'E put me safe inside,
An' just before 'e died:
"I 'ope you liked your drink," sez Gunga Din.
So I'll meet 'im later on
In the place where 'e is gone— 75
Where it's always double drill and no canteen;
'E'll be squattin' on the coals
Givin' drink to pore damned souls,
An' I'll get a swig in Hell from Gunga Din!

Din! Din! Din! 80
You Lazarushian-leather Gunga Din!
Tho' I've belted you an' flayed you,
By the livin' Gawd that made you,
You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din!
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Dylan has been recognized as a remarkable poet for a long time; universities have been using his lyrics, sometimes over Shakespeare, for years.

We tend to lose the words when listening to that, uh, distinctive voice. :lol: But primarily what he is, and what he's always been, is a gifted writer.

I think it's a very appropriate award.
 
congratulations to Bob Dylan. it brightened my day when i heard this news.
 
When I first heard that Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature, my first thought was Dylan Thomas. LOL.
 
Anyone who expects this organization to attempt to do standards has not been paying attention.
 
I'm sure Bob and Mr Obama will have a lot to talk about.
 
danarhea said:
When I first heard that Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature, my first thought was Dylan Thomas. LOL.
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That guy should have wrote a poem on going to the damned hospital.
 
Mr Person said:
Surprising, yes.

I don't follow the Nobels much, but it seems odd that songwriting is considered "literature"; it's certainly an art form, but I don't think it's that one.
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Lyrics (some) can be regarded as poetry, and literature textbooks have included some for decades now, including Jimmy Buffett and the Beatles ("Eleanor Rigby").

I think by the most rigorous of poetic standards, Simon and Garfunkel's "Sounds of Silence" is a fine example. Even if you are unfamiliar with the names of most of the schemes and tropes in English (but you do know some--simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration).

There are typos, the worst of which is "deared" for "dared":



And speaking of Simon and Garfunkel, I've always thought of them as the "spokespersons of their generation," not Dylan. Even when I was, like, 12, I was saying no, he doesn't stand for me. Most of my friends strongly disagreed.
 
Ikari said:
That guy should have wrote a poem on going to the damned hospital.
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He kind of did. Read the poem "Fern Hill" by Dylan Thomas. That one is about a guy dying of syphilis. LOL.
 
never listened to him.
 
JANFU said:
Some will disagree with Dylan being awarded the Nobel prize for Literature.
Consider that the committee has considered works in music be considered as poetry.
Then you will see this is a new door opened by the committee.
Consider that music can be and is poetry.
Set aside his politics.
Read the lyrics as poetry and not sung in music.

One of my favorite poets is a man that for the past number of generations has been condemned as one who blindly supported the British Empire at and during his time


Tell me what these mean to you?
48. Gunga Din. Rudyard Kipling. Modern British Poetry
Click to expand...
Obama got a prize for having his thumb up his ass, why not Dylan for writing great songs?

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
danarhea said:
When I first heard that Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature, my first thought was Dylan Thomas. LOL.
Click to expand...

:mrgreen:

Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

I am understanding this quote now in a more personal way :lamo
 
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