BENGALURU : No one can say Bob Dylan’s writing is anything but poetry. Him being the first musician to win the Nobel Prize was proof of that,” Sourav Roy, a poet and founding editor of online magazine Bengaluru Review, tells CE. Calling himself a Dylan enthusiast, he adds, “The more we engage with his lyrics, the more we end up appreciating that a poet of his calibre lived through our times.” And in order to do just that, Roy partnered with poet Samantak Bhadra to organise an upcoming poetry workshop that appreciates Dylan and his poetic genius.
The idea for the workshop, Bhadra says, came from a conversation he had with Roy, where the duo discussed many questions, including whether Dylan’s lyrics could be considered poetry. “We started exploring the dynamics of protest poetry and started discovering hidden elements and dexterous clever ways in which Dylan used various tools in poetry to create what we all now know to be powerful lyrical writing,” he adds.
The three-hour event will include an exploration of some of Dylan’s songs to see how different tools of poetry have been used in each of them. Each song, Bhadra adds, will be ‘dissected and discussed’ completely before moving on to the next. Eventually, participants will then be required to write their own poems using similar tools.
Giving the example of Knocking On Heaven’s Door, Bhadra explains that the poem uses sound effectively to send across a message. “Other poems like Tangled Up In Blue use ambiguity and repetition to good effect. We shall also have a big fat hardcover book of his writings at the workshop for participants to leaf through the pages at their own pace,” he says, adding that a shorter version of the workshop was organised at Fandom by Gilly’s Redefined a few months ago, which saw a good turnout.
While the event may seem like a dream come true for any Dylan and poetry fan, it can also come with its share of challenges. According to Roy, the biggest roadblock has been an internal one, since young poets sometimes feel ‘insignificant to even think of conducting something as ambitions as this.’ “But then, we also believe that poetry, like every other craft or art form, needs training and practice. Someone has to take the initiative,” he adds.
And the initiatives won’t stop here, says Bhadra, who adds, “We wish to conduct similar workshops around protest music/poetry by the likes of John Lennon, Jim Morrison and others in the future.” Appreciating Bob Dylan – A Poetry Workshop will take place at Atta Galatta from 2pm to 5pm on Sept 22.