I don't know about you, but I was extremely pleased to hear that Bob Dylan has received the Nobel Prize in Literature this past week. Literature: books, novels, classics, leather-bound pages, epics, poetry, Shakespeare, Melville, Frost, Hawthorne, the air which we breathe, the root of our sustenance, our reason for living (I mean, at least for me). And yet, Dylan is not exactly a novelist, but a musician; a lyricist, a godlike figure in classic rock and songwriting. According to the Swedish Academy, Dylan won the Prize "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."
In order to accurately examine why he is truly deserving of this award, we should consider the following excerpt from "Mr. Tambourine Man," one of Dylan's many masterpieces, and a song that has always resonated quite personally with me:
"Then take me disappearin’ through the smoke rings of my mind
Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves
The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach
Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow
Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow."
Was that a transient, out-of-body experience through words? Yes. Was that more of a greater resemblance to a well-crafted poem than a mere song? Absolutely. Coupled with Dylan's own organic voice, these words create something magical. He plays with sound, creates music through alliteration, conjures images of freedom and escape, and maintains a whimsical, meditative tone from start to finish of the journey.
In order to understand that Dylan deserves the Nobel Prize because he is a poet in his own right, we need to analyze what it means to be a great poet. In Whitman's 1855 "Preface" to Leaves of Grass, he declares that "the greatest poet hardly knows pettiness or triviality. If he breathes into anything that was before thought small it dilates with the grandeur and life of the universe. He is a seer … he is individual … he is complete in himself … the others are as good as he, only he sees it and they do not." Bob Dylan embodies all of these things. Dylan deserved the Nobel Prize in literature because he consistently proves his status as a poet when he sees an elevated nature around him: a "diamond sky," "circus sands," "haunted frightened trees," "foggy ruins of time," and "smoke rings of my mind." Of course, these are hallucinogenic and perceptive images. Of course, they are living, breathing words. He creates in his music something that only the greatest literary poet could create.
Dylan is absolutely Whitman-esque in the sense that he was the voice of his new generation. He created a new American voice, just like our dear friend Walt. By this, I mean that he pioneered the intersection of music and literature in American culture. In pinpointing the era that music became more about a sublime experience than simple lyric, decades like the 1960s through 1980s come to mind. Dylan really starting developing his musical prowess in the 60s. He very well might have been the leader of the battalion that followed, ranging from The Doors to Simon and Garfunkel to Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and more.
In previous American song tradition, the Beach Boys, Elvis Presley, or Johnny Cash, quintessential earlier figures, told more simplistic stories about girls, cars, or the wild west. In glorious contrast, all of the later classic rock artists prove that music is more than harmonies and notes and words strewn together melodiously: it is a sacred mode of storytelling that is crafted through poetic thought and introspection.
Many have argued that Dylan isn't as deserving of winning the Prize as other great figures in American literature. Contrary to what some may say, he absolutely played a major role in creating an intersection of music and literature in American culture. That's a major cultural feat. Music is supposed to break down boundaries and play a role in defining a time period. In each of his songs, Dylan accomplishes that and more. Nobel Prizes are meant to honor and recognize genius.
Through creative intellect, a pioneering sound, and a new emotional song, Dylan made his impact on America and its music decades ago, and it is about time that he finally is recognized for it.
