A presentation on Bob Dylan and his work as a manifestation of poetry. This presentation is not to be used or reproduced for monetary gain, and is strictly for educational purposes. Pictures belong to their original creators. Make sure to attribute the presentation to Alan M. Valle Monagas and Alexander Soto Roman, even when making derivations based on this presentation. For more information, go to icaroson.wordpress.com or write to me at alan.valle@upr.edu.

1. Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Highway 61 Revisited [&]
The Times They Are A-Changin'
Alan Valle Monagas
Alexander Soto Roman

2. Biography
• Born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24,
1941, in Duluth Minnesota. (Age 75)
• One of the most influential singer-
songwriters of the 20th century.
• Major influence to Social and Political
Activism in the 60’s.
• “Bob Dylan” name comes from:
• Matt Dillon, Gunsmoke
• Not from Welsh Poet, Dylan Thomas
Matt Dillon

3. Biography
• Born to Abram Zimmerman and Beatrice Stone.
• Grew up in a close Jewish Community.
• Learned to play the guitar, harmonica and piano from an early age.
• Formed various high schools bands;
• The Golden Chords,
• Went by the pseudonym Elston Gunn.

4. Biography
• Started performing Folk and Country songs while attending the
University of Minnesota.
• Influenced by early rock stars such as:
Elvis Presley Jerry Lee Lewis Little Richard

5. Biography
• Around 1960, Dylan dropped out of
college (University of Minnesota) and
moved to New York.
• Became a regular playing at folk clubs
and coffeehouses in Greenwich Village.
• Eventually receives a great review from
the New York Times and signs with
Columbia Records.
• His first album, Bob Dylan, showcased
his voice through;
• Traditional folk songs
• Covers of blues songs

6. Bob Dylan’s
Second Album
(1963)
• Local → national and
international fame.
• Contained two of the most
memorable folk songs which
artists covered:
• Blowin' in the Wind (Peter,
Paul and Mary)
• March On Washington For
Jobs and Freedom (1963)
• A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

7. The Times They Are A-
Changin' (1964)
• Added to Dylan’s
prominent voice in the
social and political
movement during the
60’s.
• Song Chosen:
• The Times They Are
A-Changin’

8. “The Times They Are A-Changin” Lyrics
Lyrics from AZLyrics
● http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bobdylan/thetimestheyareachangin.html
Song
● Available as MP3

9. “The Times They Are A-Changin” Analysis
• People (admit the waters have grown)
• Create Social Awareness/Notice the change
• Writers/Critics (Keep your eyes wide/don’t speak too soon)
• Change is constant not static
• Senators/Congressmen (heed the call)
• Pay Careful Attention to the battle outside (Vietnam War)
• Mothers & Fathers (Don’t Criticize what you can’t understand)
• Urges parents not to judge the new change.

10. “The Times They Are A-Changin” Themes
• Promotes social
awareness.
• Change is inevitable, sink
or swim.
• Change relates to social
status/power, which
quickly shifts,
• “For the loser now / Will be
later to win.”

11. “The Times They Are A-Changin” Lyrics
Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.
A
B
C
B
D
E
B
F
B
F
F

12. Highway 61 Revisited • Sixth studio album.
• Released 20 August 1965 by
Columbia Records.
• “Critics have focused on the
innovative way in which Dylan
combined driving, blues-based music
with the subtlety of poetry to create
songs that captured the political and
cultural chaos of contemporary
America.” (“Highway 61 Revisited”).

13. Highway 61 Revisited • “Author Michael Gray has argued
that in an important sense the 1960s
‘started’ with this album” (Gray 321).
• Ranked No. 4 on Rolling Stone’s “500
Greatest Albums of All Time”
• Dylan used rock musicians as his
backing band.
• Dylan “left” the folk movement.

14. Bob Dylan’s Poetics in Highway 61 Revisited
• Freeform surrealist, stream of consciousness prose.
• “Fusing radical, electrical music ... with lyrics that were light
years ahead of anyone else's; Dylan here unites the force of
blues-based rock'n'roll with the power of poetry. The whole rock
culture, the whole post-Beatle pop-rock world, and so in an
important sense the 1960s started here” (Gray 321).
• Dylan references: Nero, Noah, Cain, Abel, Ophelia, Romeo, T.S.
Eliot, Ezra Pound, Edgar Allan Poe, Kerouac and Steinbeck.
• Dylan creates characters, who represent people from his life.
• Says he was influenced by Ginsberg’s city poetry.
“Cain killing Abel” by Pietro Novelli

16. “Highway 61 Revisited” (Song)
• Six verses and no chorus.
• Recounts Dylan’s nightmarish
experience in Juarez, Mexico.
• "Oh God said to Abraham, 'Kill me a son' / Abe says,
'Man, you must be puttin' me on’”
• As Gill has pointed out, Abraham was the name of
Dylan's father, which makes the singer the son whom
God wants killed. (“Highway 61 Revisited”)
“Sacrifice of Isaac” by Caravaggio

17. “Like a Rolling Stone”
• Rolling Stone’s Greatest
song of All Time. [1/500]
• Song with four verses
and a chorus.
• Originally a 10 page manuscript.
• Written as a “consequence of his
dissatisfaction” with Warhol’s scene
and his touring.
• Lauded as a masterpiece by Bruce
Springsteen, the Beatles and Frank
Zappa.

18. “Like a Rolling Stone”
• Iambic tetrameter.
• Rhyme scheme: abcbdddde

19. • Breaks against hegemony of the
page.
• Art and music (audio) considered
to be literature.
• Compared to Ancient Greek poets,
like Homer and Sappho by Nobel
officials.
“El Premio Nóbel y la liberación de la literatura”

20. Fun “Facts”
1. According to Bob Spitz, author of The Beatles: The Biography, it was
Dylan who first introduced the Fab Four to marijuana.
2. After seeing Rebel Without a Cause, Dylan became obsessed with James
Dean.
3. In 10th grade, Dylan and his back-up band were rejected from a high
school talent show because the student council judged his performance at
the audition too shocking.
4. In college, Dylan was known for scamming his friends out of cigarettes
and articles of clothing.

21. Works Cited
Eby, Margaret. “69 Things You Didn’t Know About Bob Dylan.” Flavorwire, 24 May 2010,
http://flavorwire.com/93342/bob-dylan-69-birthday-facts.
Flores, Leonardo. “El Premio Nóbel y la liberación de la literatura.” 80grados, 28 Oct. 2016
Gray, Michael. The Bob Dylan Encylopedia. Continuum International. 2006.
“Highway 61 Revisited.” Wikipedia.
Biography.com Editors. “Bob Dylan Biography.” Bio.com, A&E Networks Television, 31 Oct. 2016,
www.biography.com/people/bob-dylan-9283052#folk-singing.
Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. “Artist Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine.” ALLMUSIC,
www.allmusic.com/artist/bob-dylan-mn0000066915/biography.
AZLyrics Editors. “BOB DYLAN LYRICS.” AZLYRICS,
www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bobdylan/thetimestheyareachangin.html.