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Poetry on the Plaza: Harmonica Bob: The Poetry of Bob Dylan

Presented by Harry Ransom Center at Harry Ransom Center

December 1, 2010

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The Harry Ransom Center presents the Poetry on the Plaza event Harmonica Bob: The Poetry of Bob Dylan on Wednesday, December 1, at noon. Thomas G. Palaima, Dickson Centennial Professor of Classics and Director of the Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory at The University of Texas at Austin, is the featured reader.

Few songster poets have had their words so scrutinized, analyzed, criticized, problematized, and misunderstood as Bob Dylan. Even before he deserted traditional folk singing to write his own styles of verse, Dylan had to correct astute social critic Studs Terkel on the air (May 1, 1963) and insist that the hard rain that was gonna fall was not, as Terkel had asserted, nuclear fallout rain.

One instrument that has served Dylan himself well, besides guitar and piano, is the harmonica. In this presentation, Palaima traces Dylan's early mastery and developed use of the instrument that is so expressive as a poetic song tool in folk and blues traditions.

Dylan has used the harmonica from his earliest days to the present—and most notably in acoustic sets during the 1966 tour—to express emotions and meanings that were literally ineffable for many reasons. He has also used the instrument to highlight key passages in songs. In a way, it serves as a mode of expression that cannot be interpreted or misinterpreted.

Examples illustrating this phenomenon of "unspoken poetry" will be drawn from Palaima's extensive collection of bootleg recordings from 1961 to 2010. He argues that at many points in the poetic structures of his songs, Dylan uses the harmonica where words would literally fail.

Refreshments will be served at this free event.