Song Lyrics as Poetry with Dr. Mark Schenker: Bob Dylan

Mark Schenker, formerly of Yale College, returns to the Fairfield Public Library in September and October to give a three-session program series on “Song Lyrics as Literature” in the works of Joni Mitchell (b. 1942); Bob Marley (1945-1981); and Bob Dylan (b. 1941).

The awarding of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature to Dylan for creating “new poetic expressions within the great American tradition” was another reminder that while songs are meant to be sung and heard, it is possible to consider the lyrics as literature on their own terms.

Indeed, the works of the Ancient Greek poets Homer and Sappho, among others, were composed to be performed with music, but that hasn’t prevented generations of readers from experiencing and enjoying their productions as literature. (How many of us have heard The Odyssey sung?)

And Dylan himself made a similar point in accepting the Nobel Prize: Shakespeare’s dramatic works, he observed, were intended to be performed by actors and seen by an audience, and yet for hundreds of years casual readers as well as students and scholars have engaged with the plays as a reading experience—as written literature. 

And so, without forgetting all that music adds to any song--certainly it enhances our appreciation of Dylan's "To Ramona" (1964) to know that it was written in a waltz tempo--Mark will concentrate our attention on the remarkable poetry of three singer-sonwriters—a Canadian, an American, and a Jamaican—born within a span of four years of one another, some eight decades ago.

All programs are Thursdays 2-3:30 pm:

12 Sept          Joni Mitchell
26 Sept          Bob Marley
10 Oct           Bob Dylan