What does a genius look like? Perhaps you picture a university professor in a tweed suit and tie. Or perhaps you picture a scientist in a white lab coat and safety goggles. But 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.

According to many critics, Bob Dylan is the great songwriter of all time.¹ He has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, a special citation from the Pulitzer PrizeAmerican prizes for journalism, literature and music. Every year, winners receive cash prizes. , and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Presenting this last award, the former US president Barack Obama stated, "There is not a bigger giant in the history of American music."²

Dylan is also one of the best-selling performers of all time, with an estimated 125 million in record sales.³ And he has influenced many icons of rock and folk music, including Paul McCartney, Leonard Cohen, Johnny Cash, Patti Smith and Bono.

Last week, a new film about Dylan's life was released in Britain. Starring Timothee Chalamet, it tells the story of the musician's early career in New York. 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. He annoyed many of his early supporters by leaving behind his musical roots and using electric instruments at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. But fans hope the film will introduce another generation to his songs.

For many, Dylan's lyrics are the most original and 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, not everyone is impressed. Early critics called his voice nasal 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 chose a famous rock star, rather than a little-known author who would have benefitted more from the award.

Some writers argued that, even if Dylan was a genius, it was unfair to compare his work to poetry. After all, poetry is read on a page or else heard recited, but Dylan's 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 snobSomeone who looks down on people or things they perceive as belonging to a lower social class. 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.

Pulitzer Prize - American prizes for journalism, literature and music. Every year, winners receive cash prizes.

Banal - Boring and unimportant.

Bastion - A projecting part of a fort, or a place, person or group who strongly maintain certain principles or attitudes.

Snob - Someone who looks down on people or things they perceive as belonging to a lower social class.