tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20782819.post623064006687142109..comments2023-11-12T13:22:30.358+01:00Comments on andrewjshields: Dylan as poetry 2Andrew Shieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02804655739574694901noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20782819.post-77903490822049638272007-09-23T15:49:00.000+02:002007-09-23T15:49:00.000+02:00Glenn has the right attitude, I think: what does i...Glenn has the right attitude, I think: what does it really matter?<BR/><BR/>One thing I have come back to since this post is the problem that "poem" and "poet" are sometimes neutral, descriptive terms, while at other times they are "values," if you will.<BR/><BR/>So what people are saying when they say Dylan is not a poet is that "poet" and "poem" are not just neutral descriptive terms in their eyes, but are values. That is, "he may right verse, but it's not good enough to call him a poet."<BR/><BR/>I'm for the neutral description. Otherwise, nobody can talk about "bad poetry."Andrew Shieldshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02804655739574694901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20782819.post-31381968947171449012007-09-20T01:02:00.000+02:002007-09-20T01:02:00.000+02:00Lots of poems that fill anthologies started out as...Lots of poems that fill anthologies started out as songs -- how many of the poems in a book of Chinese translations start out saying they are "written to the tune of"? Troubadour poets, aren't they read these days? So we don't have the tunes to most of these poems/lyrics/lyric poems anymore ... Fine with me if Dylan wants to call himself a poet or anyone else wants to. If you decide to write up a critical essay on one of his songs as a poem, pretending perhaps that you've never heard it sung, then why not?Glenn Ingersollhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10674475308395975995noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20782819.post-3993042088215604862007-09-15T21:00:00.000+02:002007-09-15T21:00:00.000+02:00Justin, I chose "Watchtower" because it is one of ...Justin, I chose "Watchtower" because it is one of the lyrics that I keep coming back to to sing, and because it is such a suggestive and powerful text. Of course, the simple music makes it a great jamming song, too.<BR/><BR/>Another text that I return to over and over to sing is "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go." Again, it is the performance of the music and the words that makes the song so compelling. But hey, I agree with you: Dylan's texts work, on the page, as lyrics, in performance (by himself and others).<BR/><BR/>In the final analysis, I guess, it does not really matter whether we define Dylan as a poet or not. Most of those who don't want to give him that label are still happy to admit that he is a brilliant songwriter!Andrew Shieldshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02804655739574694901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20782819.post-52076019753843336182007-09-15T15:40:00.000+02:002007-09-15T15:40:00.000+02:00I have always believed Bob Dylan to be a poet. I ...I have always believed Bob Dylan to be a poet. I am not of his generation, being born in 1969, but even before I was a die-hard fan of his work, I recognized he was a poet.<BR/><BR/>Bob Dylan himself has asserted he is not trying to sing, that in fact, the only performace of his which is him trying to sing, is "Lay Lady, Lay." So if he is not singing, can we take him as performing his poems and providing his own arrangements?<BR/><BR/>Reginald Shepperd, I think, does not classify Dylan as a poet on some technicality I cannot fathom with my weak intellect (I am not making a joke or insulte there) but I cannot come to any concluson other than poet.<BR/><BR/>You chose "All Along the Watch Tower" but what about the entire album of Highway 61 Revisited? "It takes a lot to Laugh, it takes a train to cry" is simply amazing, as is "Desolation Row" Speaking of "All Along . . ." why not all of John Wesley Harding? <BR/><BR/>I could go on, of course, but for every point I make, there is another to make about song writing not being poetry. What is a song if not the aural parent to poetry. I will concede contemporary song and contemporary poetry sound different, but it is all abut sound. Poetry is a performance art and a participation sport. It relies, or should rely, upon the performance. Simply put, I don't give a damn for poetry which forsakes its musicality or renders itself into the category of non-performance.<BR/><BR/>That's why, in part, I believe Bob Dylan to be a poet.Justin Evanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12161484350184865575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20782819.post-90125774309996974302007-09-14T17:45:00.000+02:002007-09-14T17:45:00.000+02:00Had to say this, but Dylan Thomas as a modernist c...Had to say this, but Dylan Thomas as a modernist contemporary to TS Elliot had a better sonority, a much more resounding writing and a much more beautiful pace.<BR/><BR/>That, next to find recordings and see what to 'propagate' and 'control' as stances!<BR/><BR/>Cheers,<BR/><BR/>...Translation Whitelisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17805095386282166374noreply@blogger.com