Bob Dylan, the American singer-songwriter, best known for his poetic lyrics has been declared as the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2016. He has finally won the prize in 2016 after being officially nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature every year since 1997. As he sang in his famous protest song “How many roads must a man walk down; Before you call him a man ? “, He had to wait for 9 long years before finally winning it. The official statement read that he was awarded for “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition,”.
Born to a Jewish family and originally named as Robert Allen Zimmerman was influenced by poet Dylan Thomas, as acknowledged by him, started calling himself Bob Dylan as he is known today. His works are studied in almost all the universities across the United States. Earlier in 2008, the Pulitzer Prize jury awarded him a special citation for profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.” This led to the famous headline that read “Thanks to Bob Dylan, rock ‘n’ roll has finally broken through the Pulitzer wall.”
In his 50 plus years long career he has won the highest prize in the world in Literature from an institution that would not have earlier considered him as a contender. But Bob Dylan’s lyrics which have been attributed to have influences of some famous poets was able to have such great impact on the flower children in the sixties and till today his lyrics are as relevant as before. His winning the prize indicates the greater acceptance of contemporary culture in literature.
The last verse of his most covered song goes thus;
“The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin’
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’.”
The world should surely take note that with the Nobel Prize of Literature being awarded to a folk-rock singer it is indeed a sign of the times they are a-changin’.
