"Knocking On The Door Of Heaven"-An Inquiry Into Bob Dylan's Poetry

Bob Dylan is a loud name in western music circle and folk music field.He's the successor of folk music and the inaugurator of folk rock,and has made great musical achievement.However,in a long time,his musical achievement is so remarkable that people ignore his talent in literature to some extent,which we haven't notice until 1996,when he had been recommended to participate in Nobel Literature Prize.In 2016,his works finally received affirmation from Nobel Literature Prize,therefore his works was definite as “poem”.In essence,like songs,poem also consists two parts: text and melody.Bob Dylan has a lot of poets' characteristics,he has the keen eye and the magic tongue,his songs go straight to bottom of heart of people over the world,express the same emotion and feelings of human,and make the sound of times.Furthermore,his lyrics conform the characteristics of poem both in rhetoric and structure,even no less beautiful than great poets' in history.Bob Dylan's awarding of Nobel Literature Prize shows inclusiveness and openness of literature,provides us an opportunity to research his works from a literature angle,and also offers us a new research object that is worth researching.The subject is divided into four parts: the first part introduces his lifetime and creative stages,combined with the historical background in 1960 s and American political,economic and culture background,showing the process of him starting his music dream in his hometown Hibbing and going to Greenwich Village in New York,in which he was being discovered and became a music star,and introducing his creative stages — folk music stage,folk rock stage,country music stage and Gospel music stage from his three identities: successor,inaugurator and explorer,with his main works being introduced;The second part mainly research the theme and meaning in Bob Dylan's works from a content angle,his works have abundant themes,we mainly analyze four main themes of his poems: protesting theme and style in 60 s,abstract songs and their inspirations in 70 s,love theme and religion theme which were expressed in his songs in all the stages;The third part on structure and form,analyzing the figures of speech in Bob Dylan's works.In form,the “beat generation” influenced Bob Dylan's works,so it is reasonable to analyze Bob Dylan's works by describing characteristics of beat generation's works.Rhetorically,exemplifying the literature in his works by analyzing phonetic figures of speech,syntactic figures of speech,semantic figures of speech and logical figures of speech he used in his works,proving the reason why his songs can be called “poems”.The fourth part elaborating Bob Dylan's influence and the research value of his works by quoting some evaluations from well-known musicians and writers,emphasizing again the practicability of analyzing the literature in his works.During the process of listening,appreciating and researching his works,we will discover the charming and greatness of Bob Dylan as a poet,and feel the poetry and power of times in his poems.