by Larry Fyffe
Introduction
Bob Dylan’s songs often crunch past and present and future time into a singularity.
To give listeners a linear time perspective on America poets or writers that Dylan actually or seemingly alludes to in his lyrics, here are birth and death dates of writers that I’ve referred to in my articles.
The writers cited are listed in chronological order by date of birth, and in each case followed by a one line summary of their position in literature. Beneath that is a link to an article on this site that includes mention of this poet – although please do note that these range from articles that are primarily dedicated to the link between the poet and Bob Dylan, to articles that touch upon the writer in less detail.
We are aware from correspondence both from academics and students that this site is being used for the purposes of studying Bob Dylan’s work, and of course we find that incredibly gratifying. Indeed we hope that this list might be of help in that work.
All that we ask in return is that if you do utilise this page, or indeed extract data from any other page from this site, you do cite the author of the page and the website “Untold Dylan” as the source.
Sigourney 1791-1865
Pocohantas: The Christian escape from a world of woe.
Hawthorne 1804-1864
The Scarlet Letter: Puritan use of shame and stigma.
Longfellow 1807-1882
Courtship of Miles Standish: A love triangle in early a Puritan colony
Whittier 1807-1892
Chapel Of Hermits: Quaker abolitionist and a lover of nature
Poe 1809-1849
The Raven: Haunted by thoughts of past love
Melville 1819-1891
Moby Dick: The unknowable purpose of existence
Whitman 1819-1892
Leaves Of Grass: The triumph and terror of technology
Timrod 1829-1867
Charleston: Celebration of the Confederate States
Dickinson 1830-1886
Wind Like A Bugle: Ominous signs of death in nature
Frost 1874-1963
Road Not Taken:The lasting effects of decisions made
London 1876-1916
Call Of The Wild: Exploitation of animals and workers
Sandburg 1878-1967
Honey And Salt: The quest for love under capitalist economics
Lindsay 1879-1931
The Congo: Racist exploitation by colonialism
Stevens 1879-1955
Sunday Morning: Making comfort out of chaos
Runyon 1880-1946
Lily Of St. Pierre: The honest man outside of the law
Williams 1883-1963
Paderson: Darwinism reformulated as Creationism
Pound 1885-1972
The Cantos: The whirlwind revolt against nihilism
Millay 1892-1950
Dirge Without Music: The injustice of an uncaring God
MacLeish 1892 -1982
End Of The World: The capitalist creation of nihilism
Cummings 1894-1962
May I Feel Said He: The postmodern second coming of William Blake
Fitzgerald 1896-1940
The Great Gatsby: The futility of romanticism in a layered society
Crane 1899-1932
The River: An attempt to escape from established authority
Hughes 1906-1967
I Too: The fight for civil rights in America
Ferlinghetti 1919-
In Goya’s Great Scenes: allusion to famous paintings
Ginsberg 1926-1997
Howl: Criticism of capitalism and conformity
Corso 1930-2001
Boom, Boom, Boom: Ironic tweatment of the Nuclear Age
Bremster 1934-1998
City Madness: The chaos of modern city living
To come: List of British And French poets and writers alluded to by Bob Dylan
You might also find the index “Poets and Themes within Dylan’s work” to be of help.
What else is on the site
1: Over 450 reviews of Dylan songs. There is an index to these in alphabetical order on the home page, and an index to the songs in the order they were written in the Chronology Pages.
2: The Chronology. We’ve taken the songs we can find recordings of and put them in the order they were written (as far as possible) not in the order they appeared on albums. The chronology is more or less complete and is now linked to all the reviews on the site. We have also produced overviews of Dylan’s work year by year. The index to the chronologies is here.
3: Bob Dylan’s themes. We publish a wide range of articles about Bob Dylan and his compositions. There is an index here.
4: The Discussion Group We now have a discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook. Just type the phrase “Untold Dylan” in, on your Facebook page or follow this link
5: Bob Dylan’s creativity. We’re fascinated in taking the study of Dylan’s creative approach further. The index is in Dylan’s Creativity.
6: You might also like: A classification of Bob Dylan’s songs and partial Index to Dylan’s Best Opening Lines and our articles on various writers’ lists of Dylan’s ten greatest songs.
And please do note The Bob Dylan Project, which lists every Dylan song in alphabetical order, and has links to licensed recordings and performances by Dylan and by other artists, is starting to link back to our reviews
*treatment
*in early Puritan colony
* Corso: Bomb
Kerouac?