Mike, thanks for posting the Dylan. There are few poets in history who thrill me quite the way Dylan does.
I don't have the book with me, but Christopher Ricks analyzes this song in a very interesting way. If I recall correctly, and I may not, there are many parallels with a poem by Swinburne, enough to conclude that Dylan must have had the Swinburne poem in mind.... though his song is also entirely original.
I wonder if these lyrics lose something if you never heard Dylan sing it. Some of the words that Dylan hits hard provide rhymes and echos that one might not hear without knowing the performance.
**
PS-- Songs and poems are different, of course, but I think there's a song by Irving Berlin that speaks for both poets and songwriters in the following verses:
Let me sing a funny song
With crazy words that roll along
And if my song can start you laughing
I'm happy
Let me sing a sad refrain
Of broken hearts who love in vain
And if my song can start you crying
I'm happy
[This message has been edited by Roger Slater (edited January 18, 2005).]
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