Is Bob Dylan a modern Shakespeare? A new film focusing on the musician’s early life introduces his unique songs and controversial career to another generation.
Rave reviews for portrait of a genius
Is Bob Dylan a modern Shakespeare? A new film focusing on the musician's early life introduces his unique songs and controversial career to another generation.
What does a genius look like? You probably do not picture an old man wearing a leather jacket and skinny jeans, with a guitar in his arms and a harmonica strapped to his shoulders. But according to many critics, Bob Dylan is the great songwriter of all time.1
Dylan has been awarded the Nobel PrizeOne of a set of prizes, laid out in the will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, given each year to people who "have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind". for Literature and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Presenting this last award, the former US president Barack ObamaThe Democrat US president between 2008 and 2016. stated: "There is not a bigger giant in the history of American music."2 He is also one of the best-selling performers of all time, with an estimated 125 million record sales.3
Last week, a new film about Dylan's life was released in Britain. It has already received glowing reviews in America, as well as dozens of award nominations. As the film makes clear, Dylan was a controversial figure from the start. But fans hope the film will introduce another generation to his songs.
For many, Dylan's lyrics are the most poetic in modern music. The respected literary scholar Christopher Ricks has written books on poets like John Milton, John Keats and TS Eliot - and Bob Dylan. He describes the musician as "a genius of and with language".4
However, early critics called his voice nasalRelating to the nose. and his musical skills average. The vice president of Columbia Records, Dylan's label, said his early album was "the most horrible thing he'd ever heard in his life".5
More recently, some critics have called his lyrics banalBoring and unimportant. and cliched. Others have argued that he stole the musical traditions of disadvantaged communities - especially Black ones - and made them acceptable to "the hoity-toity bastionA projecting part of a fort, or a place, person or group who strongly maintain certain principles or attitudes. of high culture".6
This criticism was made after Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature. The decision was unpopular because the Swedish Academy could have chosen a less famous figure. Some writers argued that it was unfair to compare Dylan's work to poetry, because his songs are performed with musical instruments to accompany them.
Maybe it is a mistake to put Dylan in any category. His success has partly come from blurring the space between singer and poet, musician and writer. As the novelist Rob Doyle has argued: "Is it poetry? Is it literature? Who cares? It's great art."7
Is Bob Dylan a modern Shakespeare?
Yes: Musicians, critics and fans - they all recognise that Dylan is a unique writer who deserves comparison with the greatest poets. Only a snob would disagree.
No: Dylan may be a brilliant songwriter, but that does not make his music into literature. Academics who study his lyrics are trying to make themselves and their subject look cool.
Or... Musician? Poet? Bob Dylan does not fit easily into any category. But what matters is the brilliance of his songs, which will last long after these debates are forgotten.
Nobel prize - One of a set of prizes, laid out in the will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, given each year to people who "have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
Barack Obama - The Democrat US president between 2008 and 2016.
Nasal - Relating to the nose.
Banal - Boring and unimportant.
Bastion - A projecting part of a fort, or a place, person or group who strongly maintain certain principles or attitudes.
Rave reviews for portrait of a genius

Glossary
Nobel prize - One of a set of prizes, laid out in the will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, given each year to people who "have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
Barack Obama - The Democrat US president between 2008 and 2016.
Nasal - Relating to the nose.
Banal - Boring and unimportant.
Bastion - A projecting part of a fort, or a place, person or group who strongly maintain certain principles or attitudes.