This is a comparative presentation based on the two American Literary figures and their works. Hope it is helpful. Happy Learning!!!

2. Bob Dylan and Robert Frost
Vaidehi Hariyani
(Research Scholar)
Department of English, MKBU

3. Bob Dylan (1941)
• American singer-songwriter, author and visual artist.
• Major figure in popular culture for more than 50 years.
• Some became anthems for the civil rights and anti-war movements.
• His lyrics during this period incorporated a range of political, social,
philosophical, and literary influences, defying pop music conventions
and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture.

4. Awards
• 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature - "for having created new poetic
expressions within the great American song tradition.“
• Pulitzer Prize
• 6 times Grammy Awards and many more

5. Blowin’ in the wind
Classic Protest Song
• In this song the poet asks innumerable
questions but only a cryptic reply is given “The
answer is blowin’ in the wing”.
• The song suggests, is a matter of understanding
a truth that's all around—but paradoxically
impossible to grasp.
• Though a protest song but relatable to the life of
human

6. All Along the Watchtower
• The song is about attitudes towards corruption and privilege.
• In that the narrator seems to speak dismissively of the main
characters in describing them as ‘the joker’ and ‘the thief’
respectively, he may be ironically representing society’s attitudes to
those who fail to accept its norms.
• Probably he is a wise joker who understands the truth of the world.

7. Like a rolling stone
• This song can be seen as a warning about the dangers of living pointlessly,
going along with the crowd, and not treating others appropriately.
• On one level this implies that her life is going ever faster downhill, but on
another it reminds us of the proverb ‘a rolling stone gathers no moss’.
• This tells us there are benefits to being on the move, perhaps even
through the lower echelons of society. If one keeps moving, one doesn’t
get numbed, or destroyed by mind-numbing routines.
• Frustrating Song

8. Robert Frost (1874-1963)
• An American poet
• Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American
colloquial speech.
• Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New England in the early
20th century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes.
• Frost was honored frequently during his lifetime and is the only poet to receive
four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry.
• He became one of America's rare "public literary figures, almost an artistic
institution.“
• He was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1960 for his poetic works.
• On July 22, 1961, Frost was named poet laureate of Vermont.

9. Miles to go before I sleep….
Whose woods these are I think I
know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

10. Road less travelled…
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

11. Fire and Ice
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

12. Themes
Bob Dylan
• Protest
• Freedom
• Abandoned
• Revenge
• Love
• Politics
• Corruption
Robert Frost
• Everyday life
• Human contact with the natural world
• Human love
• Isolation
• Life’s struggles
• Mortality
• Nature
• Rural life
• Self-realization
• Simultaneous validity of opposing idea

14. Question Bank
• 1.) How did Frost's personal life influence his poetry?
• 2.) Which of Frost's poems do you think is the most effective in terms of
form and meaning? Why?
• 3.) In both “Stopping by Woods” and “The Road Not Taken,” the speaker
hesitates en route. Compare these hesitations. Do they derive from the
same impulse and misgiving or are they distinct?
• 4.) Discuss Robert Frost’s applications of “the sound of sense.”
• 5.) What do you think is enough to end the world “Fire” or “Ice”? Discuss
with reference to the poem “Fire and Ice”
• 6.) “And miles to go before I sleep…” – Explain the philosophy of life with
reference to the poem “Stopping by Woods”.
• 7.) Analyze the poem “’The Road Not Taken”.

15. • 8.) The Road is taken as a metaphor of life in the poem “The Road
not Taken”. Which are the different metaphors used by Robert Frost
in his poems which are related to life?
• 9.) Compare and Contrast Robert Frost and Bob Dylan. How do they
differ in their style of writing? What are the similarities in their songs?
• 10.) Bob Dylan received the Nobel Prize for Literature for his songs.
What is the impact of his songs that he is the first song writer to
receive the Nobel Prize?
• 11.) Please give a critical summary of Bob Dylan's poem "All Along
the Watchtower"

16. • 12.) In Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind," what is the tone (attitude)
and figurative language?
• 13.) What do the lyrics of Bob Dylan's song "Blowin' in the Wind"
mean?
• 14.) How would you describe the tone of the speaker of the poem
(lyrics) in Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone"?
• 15.) “Bob Dylan Wins Nobel Prize, Redefining Boundaries of
Literature” How do you think he redefines the boundaries of
Literature?

17. Thinking Task
• Merge the five chosen shots and upload the video on your YouTube
channel with any background music you like.
• Prepare a blog
• Upload the your YouTube Video on your blog
• Begin your blog…
“ Hello all,
My lyrics are here
1.)Write down the message you want to give from your lyrics.
2.) Which Poem/Song of Bob Dylan/Robert Frost is relatable with your Video.
Why?

18. Works Cited
• Frost, Robert. “The Road not taken”. Poetry Foundation,
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44272/the-road-not-
taken.
• Frost, Robert. “Fire and Ice”. Poetry Foundation,
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44263/fire-and-ice
• Frost, Robert. “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”. Poetry
Foundation,
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42891/stopping-by-
woods-on-a-snowy-evening
• Dylan, Bob. “The Official Website Bob Dylan”. Sony Music
Entertainment, https://www.bobdylan.com/