the the more distracting it can start to seem. Thinking about a Shakespeare ‘literature’ label, play studied, how far would you agree with the following extract from Nobel you’ve Dylan’s acceptance speech? I was out on the road when I received this surprising news, and it took me more than a few minutes to properly process it. I began to think about William Shakespeare, the great literary figure. I would reckon he thought of himself as a dramatist. The thought that he was writing have entered literature couldn’t his head. His words were written for the stage. Meant to be spoken not read. When he was writing Hamlet, he was thinking about a lot of different I’m sure the right actors for should this be things: ‘Who’re these roles?’ ‘How staged?’ I really want to set this in His creative vision and ambitions ‘Do Denmark?’ were no doubt at the forefront of his mind, but there were also more mundane matters to consider and the financing in there deal with. ‘Is place?’ ‘Are enough good seats for I going to get a human my patrons?’ ‘Where am skull?’ I would bet that the farthest thing from was the question Shakespeare’s mind this ‘Is literature?’ Task 3 Remember, Germaine Greer said that if a poem was set to a musical accompaniment, ‘its own internal music would be overlaid by another music that By contrast, neutralised it’. Joshua not just that words happen to go with music; that their Clover said, ‘It’s Dylan’s it’s greatness is in how they go with they agree on is that some words made for it.’ What aren’t music, while others are. An example of some that are comes from the start of ‘Subterranean (it might be worth watching the start of the video again to remind yourself: ). Homesick Blues’ Written down, the words start: in the basement, mixing up the medicine. on the pavement, Johnny’s I’m thinking about the government. Write down five ways that seeing these lines written down is different from hearing them sung, with music. To get you started, here are a few things to think about: The chord structure is a simple blues, which means the first four bars song’s of the verse are basically all on one chord, and Dylan sings almost everything at the same pitch. In the lines above, only the in and ‘-ment’ ‘pavement’
the ‘literature’ label, the more distracting it can start to seem. Thinking about a Shakespeare play you’ve studied, how far would you agree with the following extract from Dylan’s Nobel acceptance speech? I was out on the road when I received this surprising news, and it took me more than a few minutes to properly process it. I began to think about William Shakespeare, the great literary figure. I would reckon he thought of himself as a dramatist. The thought that he was writing literature couldn’t have entered his head. His words were written for the stage. Meant to be spoken not read. When he was writing Hamlet, I’m sure he was thinking about a lot of different things: ‘Who’re the right actors for these roles?’ ‘How should this be staged?’ ‘Do I really want to set this in Denmark?’ His creative vision and ambitions were no doubt at the forefront of his mind, but there were also more mundane matters to consider and deal with. ‘Is the financing in place?’ ‘Are there enough good seats for my patrons?’ ‘Where am I going to get a human skull?’ I would bet that the farthest thing from Shakespeare’s mind was the question ‘Is this literature?’ Task 3 Remember, Germaine Greer said that if a poem was set to a musical accompaniment, ‘its own internal music would be overlaid by another music that neutralised it’. By contrast, Joshua Clover said, ‘It’s not just that Dylan’s words happen to go with music; it’s that their greatness is in how they go with it.’ What they agree on is that some words aren’t made for music, while others are. An example of some that are comes from the start of ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ (it might be worth watching the start of the video again to remind yourself: ). Written down, the words start: Johnny’s in the basement, mixing up the medicine. I’m on the pavement, thinking about the government. Write down five ways that seeing these lines written down is different from hearing them sung, with music. To get you started, here are a few things to think about: The song’s chord structure is a simple blues, which means the first four bars of the verse are basically all on one chord, and Dylan sings almost everything at the same pitch. In the lines above, only the ‘-ment’ in ‘pavement’ and
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