I think we might have mentioned this before ... from Stuff:
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Comments
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Scott Warmuth scripsit:
I saw your post regarding Dylan's use of Ovid lines, as discovered by poet CLiff Fell.
A few weeks ago I noticed an article in New Zealand's The Nelson Mail by Fell online at http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/nelsonmail/0,2106,3823946a6507,00.html.
In the article Fell cited four examples and wrote, "There may be more, for all I know...Not that I'll be counting."
I decided to do some counting, and I was able to find a significant number of other lines that Mr. Dylan seems to have been fond of beyond the ones that Fell cited. I have included them below.
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Bob Dylan "Ain't Talkin'" -
"Every nook and cranny has its tears"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 1, Section 3, Line 24 -
"every nook and corner had its tears"
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Bob Dylan - "Ain't Talkin'" -
"all my loyal and my much-loved companions"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 1, Section 3, Line 65 -
"loyal and much loved companions, bonded in brotherhood"
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Bob Dylan - "Ain't Talkin'" -
"I'll make the most of one last extra hour"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 1, Section 3, Line 68 -
"let me make the most of one last extra hour"
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Bob Dylan - "Workingman's Blues #2" -
"My cruel weapons have been put on the shelf"
Bob Dylan Ovid - Tristia, Book 2, Section 1, Line 179 -
"Show mercy, I beg you, shelve your cruel weapons"
(notice how Bob has reworked this line to make it rhyme with "You are dearer to me than myself/As you yourself can see ," which he also borrowed from Ovid)
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Bob Dylan - "The Levee's Gonna Break" -
"Some people got barely enough skin to cover their bones"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 4, Section 7, Line 51 -
"there's barely enough skin to cover my bones"
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Bob Dylan - "Ain't Talkin'" -
"I practice a faith that's been long abandoned"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 5, Section 7, Lines 63-64 -
"I practice terms long abandoned"
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Bob Dylan - "Ain't Talkin'" -
"They will tear your mind away from contemplation"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 5, Section 7, Line 66 -
"tear my mind from the contemplation of my woes"
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Bob Dylan - "Ain't Talkin'" -
"In the last outback at the world's end"
Ovid - Black Sea Letters, Book 2, Part 7, Line 66
"I'm in the last outback, at the world's end"
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Bob Dylan - "Ain't Talkin" -
"They approve of me and share my code"
Ovid - Black Sea Letters, Book 3, Part 2, Line 38 -
"who approve, and share, your code"
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Here are the lines that Cliff Fell mentioned in his article:
Bob Dylan - "Working Man's Blues #2" -
"No one can ever claim/That I took up arms against you"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 2, Lines 51-53 -
"no one can claim that I ever took up arms against you"
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Bob Dylan - "Workingman's Blues #2" -
"To lead me off in a cheerful dance"
Tristia, Book 5, Section 12, Line 8 -
"or Niobe, bereaved, lead off some cheerful dance"
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Bob Dylan - "Workingman's Blues #2" -
"Tell me now, am I wrong in thinking/That you have forgotten me?"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 5, Section 13, Line 18 -
"that I'm wrong in thinking you have forgotten me!"
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Bob Dylan - "Workingman's Blues #2" -
"You are dearer to me than myself/As you yourself can see"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 5, Section 14, Line 2 -
"wife, dearer to me than myself, you yourself can see"
Nelson poet Cliff Fell found Dylan had used lines from prolific Roman poet Ovid on his album Modern Times, recorded this year.
Last weekend he received an e-mail from New Zealand-born Harvard University professor Richard Thomas congratulating him on the findings and saying he would include them in his lectures and a book he was writing.
He teaches courses on the classics, including Ovid, and on Dylan.
Fell said he stumbled across the borrowed lines when he was studying for a poem he was writing about Ovid.
He said two of Dylan's songs, Workingman's Blues and Ain't Talking, lifted translated lines from Tristia, a book of poems by Ovid.
For example, Fell compared Dylan's line "no one can ever claim that I took up arms against you" from Workingman's Blues with Ovid's "My cause is better: no one can claim that I ever took up arms against you".
========
Comments
========
Scott Warmuth scripsit:
I saw your post regarding Dylan's use of Ovid lines, as discovered by poet CLiff Fell.
A few weeks ago I noticed an article in New Zealand's The Nelson Mail by Fell online at http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/nelsonmail/0,2106,3823946a6507,00.html.
In the article Fell cited four examples and wrote, "There may be more, for all I know...Not that I'll be counting."
I decided to do some counting, and I was able to find a significant number of other lines that Mr. Dylan seems to have been fond of beyond the ones that Fell cited. I have included them below.
--------------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan "Ain't Talkin'" -
"Every nook and cranny has its tears"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 1, Section 3, Line 24 -
"every nook and corner had its tears"
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Ain't Talkin'" -
"all my loyal and my much-loved companions"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 1, Section 3, Line 65 -
"loyal and much loved companions, bonded in brotherhood"
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Ain't Talkin'" -
"I'll make the most of one last extra hour"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 1, Section 3, Line 68 -
"let me make the most of one last extra hour"
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Workingman's Blues #2" -
"My cruel weapons have been put on the shelf"
Bob Dylan Ovid - Tristia, Book 2, Section 1, Line 179 -
"Show mercy, I beg you, shelve your cruel weapons"
(notice how Bob has reworked this line to make it rhyme with "You are dearer to me than myself/As you yourself can see ," which he also borrowed from Ovid)
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "The Levee's Gonna Break" -
"Some people got barely enough skin to cover their bones"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 4, Section 7, Line 51 -
"there's barely enough skin to cover my bones"
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Ain't Talkin'" -
"I practice a faith that's been long abandoned"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 5, Section 7, Lines 63-64 -
"I practice terms long abandoned"
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Ain't Talkin'" -
"They will tear your mind away from contemplation"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 5, Section 7, Line 66 -
"tear my mind from the contemplation of my woes"
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Ain't Talkin'" -
"In the last outback at the world's end"
Ovid - Black Sea Letters, Book 2, Part 7, Line 66
"I'm in the last outback, at the world's end"
---------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Ain't Talkin" -
"They approve of me and share my code"
Ovid - Black Sea Letters, Book 3, Part 2, Line 38 -
"who approve, and share, your code"
------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are the lines that Cliff Fell mentioned in his article:
Bob Dylan - "Working Man's Blues #2" -
"No one can ever claim/That I took up arms against you"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 2, Lines 51-53 -
"no one can claim that I ever took up arms against you"
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Workingman's Blues #2" -
"To lead me off in a cheerful dance"
Tristia, Book 5, Section 12, Line 8 -
"or Niobe, bereaved, lead off some cheerful dance"
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Workingman's Blues #2" -
"Tell me now, am I wrong in thinking/That you have forgotten me?"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 5, Section 13, Line 18 -
"that I'm wrong in thinking you have forgotten me!"
----------------------------------------------
Bob Dylan - "Workingman's Blues #2" -
"You are dearer to me than myself/As you yourself can see"
Ovid - Tristia, Book 5, Section 14, Line 2 -
"wife, dearer to me than myself, you yourself can see"
