Exploring Bob Dylan’s Poetry: New Book by Iowa Alum Mike Chasar

A new collection of essays delves into the literary contributions of Bob Dylan, the 2016 Nobel Prize winner in Literature, redefining the intersections of music and poetry.

Mike Chasar, a University of Iowa alumnus and professor at Willamette University, sees poetry as a dynamic art form that transcends the written page. He highlights how historical narratives like The Iliad and The Odyssey were recited long before they were documented, and how music was integral to the earliest performances of Beowulf.

Mike Chasar

In 2016, when Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, Chasar welcomed the recognition of a musician as a poet. His academic journey has focused on the intersection of poetry, culture, and public life, and how literature can exceed its traditional boundaries.

Chasar’s new book, The Poetry of Bob Dylan: Thirty Essays on Thirty Songs, features insights from 30 scholars who explore Dylan’s pivotal role in American poetry. Among the contributors is University of Iowa English professor Loren Glass, who discusses “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35,” and Iowa alumna Joanna Davis-McElligatt, who analyzes “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll.” The essays cover a range of topics from Dylan’s lyrical composition to the socio-political contexts of his songs, spanning from 1963’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” to 2020’s “Murder Most Foul.” Chasar himself contributes a concluding essay on “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”

Iowa Magazine spoke with Chasar, an accomplished author and editor, about his anthology on Dylan.

Was this book a labor of love for you as a Dylan fan?

Actually, when I started the book, I didn’t know anything about Dylan! I was approached by a colleague of mine in the psychology department who teaches a first-year seminar about Dylan’s life and career. He came to me saying, “Mike, how do I teach students how to read lyrics or how to read poems?” At one point, he mused that he could use a book that goes song by song through Dylan’s catalog explaining how the words to each one work. I told him that I didn’t know enough about Dylan to do that, but I do know lots of people in the field of poetry studies. And it would be really interesting to ask them, one by one, what they see or hear or read in Dylan that the average reader or listener might not.

Is it still up for debate whether song lyrics like Dylan’s should be considered poetry?

I don’t think it’s a debate, but when you pick up professional journals focusing on poetry or literary criticism, you don’t find a whole lot of material that seriously considers song lyrics as a form of poetry, even though many people in their personal lives would say those same songs are deeply meaningful to them. Why don’t they study them more often? Maybe they’re like biologists who have cats and dogs as pets: Just because you enjoy them in one realm of your life doesn’t mean you want to study them in another, let alone put them on the dissection table. They’re wondrous in many different ways.

How has editing these essays changed your perspective of Dylan?

When I began, I probably knew as much about Dylan as the casual listener. I mainly associated Dylan with his activist political songs of the early ’60s. But after studying the albums and then reading how people were approaching the lyrics in the book’s essays, I’m now astonished by the poetic and performance moves that Dylan has made over the years as a constantly changing, constantly growing songwriter. I now have deep respect and admiration for what he can do with words, and I wouldn’t have learned any of it had I not had these 30 authors being as smart as they are telling me about it.

What’s your next project?

A companion volume on Beyoncé is already in the works. Stay tuned for The Poetry of Beyoncé: Thirty Essays on Thirty Songs.