Bob Dylan And John Keats (Part III)

by Larry Fyffe

Earlier Parts of this series are available at

Ye who holds that Bob Dylan knows not his Keats, knows not Bob Dylan. The singer/songwriter shows regret at not being able to establish a permanent love relationship:

Yes, and only if my own true love was waitin’

And I could hear her heart a-softly poundin’

Yes, and only if she was lyin’ by me

Then I’d lie in my bed once again

(Bob Dylan: Tomorrow Is A Long Time)

In the lyrics above, the narrator accepts the reality of impermanence in relationships – he’s moving on:

Seen a shooting star tonight

Slip away

Tomorrow will be

Another day

Guess it’s too late to say the things to you

That you needed to hear me say

Seen a shooting star tonight

Slip away

(Bob Dylan: Shooting Star)

Bob Dylan is sorry.

For Romantic poet John Keats, a permanent relationship is the be-all and end-all of desire:

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art ….

Pillowed upon my fair love’s ripening breast

To feel forever it’s soft fall and swell

Awake for ever in a sweet unrest

Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath

And live for ever – or else swoon to death

(John Keats: Bright Star)

John Keats is sad.

Both Dylan and Keats show Gnostic influence. There be alliterative snake-like ‘s’ sounds prominent in both their pieces, suggesting oxymoronic reticence mixed with danger. Bob Dylan keeps alert. Like Keats, he’s aware of the sleepless shape-shifting female of Greek mythology who seduces men and then consumes them. Her name is Lamia. In the poem above, Keats (or at least his persona) is willing to put up with the ‘sweet unrest’. If only she would lie beside him, Keats is ready to sacrifice everything.

Aware of Egyptian mythology, Bob Dylan envisions a war that is not only going on between the sexes, but within oneself; he mixes the mythological gods together as the ancient Egyptians did over time themselves:

His eyes were two slits that would make a snake proud

With a face that that any painter would paint as he walked

through the crowd

Worshipping a god with the body of a woman well-endowed

And the head of a hyena

(Bob Dylan: Angelina)

Some mythologists consider that Seth, the God of Disorder and a brother of Isis, be symbolized by a snake and a hyena.

Christianity, for Dylan, brings pieces of compassion to fit in the cosmological puzzle:

With your mercury mouth in the missionary times

And your eyes like smoke and your prayers like rhymes

And your silver cross and your voice like chimes

Oh, who do they think could bury you?

(Bob Dylan: Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands)

From Dylan’s perspective, the Jesus-like Lady has a ‘mercury mouth’ – tasted, it could be poisonous.

In a John Keats poem, two lovers safely flee together:

Full on this casement shone the wintry moon

And threw warm gules on Madeline’s fair breast

And down she knelt for heaven’s grace and boon

Rose-bloom fell on her hands, together prest

And on her silver cross soft amethyst

And on her hair a glory, like a saint

(John Keats: The Eve Of St. Agnes)

In a Dylan song, dice are rolled, and you take your chances – bad luck should they come up ‘snake eyes’:

Hot chili peppers in the blistering sun

Dust on my face and my cape

Me and Magdalena on the run

I think this time we shall escape ……..

The way is long but the end is near

Already the fiesta has begun

The face of God will appear

With his serpent eyes of obsidian

(Bob Dylan: Romance In Durango/with J. Levy)

There’s a lot of Keats in Dylan – he takes his cake and eats it too.

What else is on the site?

You’ll find an index to our latest posts arranged by themes and subjects on the home page. You can also see details of our main sections on this site at the top of this page under the picture.

The index to the 500+ songs reviewed is now on a new page of its own. You will find it here. It contains links to reviews of every Dylan composition that we can find a recording of – if you know of anything we have missed please do write in.

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