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“If I had to do it all over again, I’d be a schoolteacher—probably teach Roman history or theology”
(Bob Dylan [Thomas 129, 328])
In this labor of love, Harvard’s Richard Thomas provides a treasure trove of information on the echoes of classical poetry in Bob Dylan’s music. His book, an outgrowth of his course (“affectionately dubbed ‘Dylan 101’” [his publisher’s words]), sets the echoes (with all the Greek and Latin citations translated into English) against a background of key moments in Dylan’s life.
Early in his book, Thomas refers to Dylan’s days at Hibbing High in Minnesota, where he studied Latin and became a member of the Latin Club. Dylan once played the part of a Roman soldier in South Dakota’s Black Hills Passion Play when it visited Hibbing, where he also saw some of Hollywood’s films of the 1950s set in ancient Rome, including Quo Vadis and The Robe. Among his early hits, like “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Masters of War,” and “The Times They Are A-Changin’,” one also finds “Goin’ Back to Rome,” a song showing how his youthful exposure to classical culture influenced his music.
Seeing Dylan as a performer in the tradition of the Greek and Roman poets, Thomas describes how (on the Greek side) Dylan occasionally echoes Homer. In “Early Roman Kings” (from the album Tempest), echoing Odysseus’ taunt to the Cyclops in Od. 9.523–24, Dylan sings: “I can strip you of life/ Strip you of...