Bob Dylan wins Nobel Prize for Literature

With the exception of some of the Peace prizes, the Nobel Prizes rarely ever tend to receive much in the way of controversy – this year, however, there was some curtesy of the award for Literature, which was received by iconic musician Bob Dylan. With the award came a number of questions, including whether musical lyrics can really be considered literature, whether songwriters can be considered poets and whether Dylan was a deserving recipient or not.

Dylan was a surprise winner in this year’s batch of Nobel Prizes, although the secretary of the Prize jury Sara Danius said that it had ‘not been a difficult decision’ to award him the prize. She went on to compare Dylan’s songs to the works of Homer and Sappho – their music was written 2500 years ago, but is still performed and enjoyed today. The jury drew parallels with their work and Dylan, believing that he deserves to be enjoyed as a poet (and a great poet, at that) in the English tradition.

There is an argument to be made that songs cannot be poems because they work hand-in-hand with music to help achieve an effect

Reaction to this award was mixed – authors like Salman Rushdie and Joyce Carol Oates praised the academy for an inspired choice, while Irvine Welsh suggested they look up ‘music’ and ‘literature’ in the dictionary and reconsider. The novelist Hari Kunzru was particularly scathing, calling it ‘the lamest Nobel win since they gave it to Obama for not being Bush.’

Sara Danius said Dylan deserves the award for ‘having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.’ Now, although I can think of many others who have done just that – Brian Wilson, Randy Newman and Cole Porter, to name just three – it is Dylan who has the award.

But should he? Can lyrics be poetry?

There is an argument to be made that songs cannot be poems because they work hand-in-hand with music to help achieve an effect – although there is often a sense of rhythm in poetry, it is nowhere near comparable. Without the music, what you’re often left with is ‘an awkward piece of creative writing full of lumpy syllables, cheesy rhymes, exhausted clichés and mixed metaphors,’ says poet Simon Armitage.

As one of the few songwriters to be revered and studied by academics, it is not shocking that Dylan was the first in his field to be honoured with the Literature Prize

However, the main objection seems to be that songs are regarded as a kind of ‘low culture’ by the literary establishment, and one there is therefore incompatible with the high culture that is true literature. As one of the few songwriters to be revered and studied by academics, it is not shocking that Dylan was the first in his field to be honoured with the Literature Prize. Even now, though, it seems the boundaries are blurring – there is praise of rap for its word-centric nature, with it being studied in some literature courses to help explain concepts like allusion and alliteration.

Can we consider the works of Bob Dylan as poetry? I don’t know, but it would be hard to argue that his lyrics are not highly poetic and literary, and perhaps that is qualification enough.

Image Credits: Martin Beek / Flickr (Header)