The Poem : 'The Will, or a Close Quarter to Self' by Me in Relation to Robert Frost & Bob Dylan's Works.

☆ Introduction : The blog I present is a response to the thinking activity given by my professor Vaidehi Hariyani madam from Department of English at Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University - Bhavnagar, Gujarat. All students are assigned a task to come up with one patchworked video of their own having tint of their reflection in their videos as a result of a visit to Bor Talav, Bhavnagar, Gujarat - India on 2nd February, 2022. As a response to this task, I have written a poem and uploaded on my YouTube channel : Nirav Amreliya and has attached the video in following part of this blog.

In this blog, I will be talking about two major literary figures of America and their notable contribution in the literature as well as folk-songs respectively which influenced the most part of American population.

Further I will be answering the two questions asked as a part of this thinking activity to the best of my ken.

☆ Brief Introduction to American Poet Robert Frost & Singer-Song Writer and Lyricist Bob Dylan (Robert Zimmerman) :

》Robert Frost :

Robert Lee Frost (March 26, 1874 – January 29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech, Frost frequently wrote about settings from rural life in New England in the early 20th century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes.

The poet and critic Randall Jarrell often praised Frost's poetry and wrote "Robert Frost, along with Stevens and Eliot, seems to me the greatest of the American poets of this century. Frost's virtues are extraordinary. No other living poet has written so well about the actions of ordinary men; his wonderful dramatic monologues or dramatic scenes come out of a knowledge of people that few poets have had, and they are written in a verse that uses, sometimes with absolute mastery, the rhythms of actual speech". He also praised "Frost's seriousness and honesty", stating that Frost was particularly skilled at representing a wide range of human experience in his poems.

Jarrell's notable and influential essays on Frost include the essays "Robert Frost's 'Home Burial'" (1962), which consisted of an extended close reading of that particular poem, and "To The Laodiceans" (1952) in which Jarrell defended Frost against critics who had accused Frost of being too "traditional" and out of touch with Modern or Modernist poetry.

Influenced by :

• Robert Graves

• Rupert Brooke

• Thomas Hardy

• William Butler Yeats

• John Keats

Influenced :

• Robert Francis

• Seamus Heaney

• Richard Wilbur

• Edward Thomas

• James Wright

》Bob Dylan :

Robert Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman; May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, author and visual artist. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career spanning 60 years. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" (1963) and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (1964) became anthems for the civil rights and anti-war movements. His lyrics during this period incorporated a range of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture.

Following his self-titled debut album in 1962, which mainly comprised traditional folk songs, Dylan made his breakthrough as a songwriter with the release of The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan the following year. The album features "Blowin' in the Wind" and the thematically complex "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall". Many of his songs adapted the tunes and phraseology of older folk songs. He went on to release the politically charged The Times They Are a-Changin' and the more lyrically abstract and introspective Another Side of Bob Dylan in 1964. In 1965 and 1966, Dylan drew controversy when he adopted electrically amplified rock instrumentation, and in the space of 15 months recorded three of the most important and influential rock albums of the 1960s: Bringing It All Back Home (1965), Highway 61 Revisited (1965) and Blonde on Blonde (1966). His six-minute single "Like a Rolling Stone" (1965) expanded commercial and creative boundaries in popular music.

Since 1994, Dylan has published eight books of drawings and paintings, and his work has been exhibited in major art galleries. He has sold more than 125 million records, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has received numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, ten Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award. Dylan has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The Pulitzer Prize Board in 2008 awarded him a special citation for "his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power". In 2016, Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".

Nobel Prize in Literature

The Nobel Prize committee announced on October 13, 2016, that it would be awarding Dylan the Nobel Prize in Literature "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition". The New York Times reported: "Mr. Dylan, 75, is the first musician to win the award, and his selection on Thursday is perhaps the most radical choice in a history stretching back to 1901." Dylan remained silent for two weeks after receiving the award, and then told journalist Edna Gundersen that getting the award was "amazing, incredible. Whoever dreams about something like that?"

(Source : Wikipedia)

☆ The Poem : 'The Will, or a Close Quarter to Self :

》Lyrics of the Poem :

The will, or a Close Quarter to Self

(On Visiting Bor Talav, Bhavnagar on 2nd February, 2022 - Wednesday)

From deep caverns of rugged heart,
The sylvan joy doth part;
No chest of men mortal-
Could hold the Nature's Art...(1)

And thus doth soar his avian will,
That reaches to the sky;
Which flies with flock of culvers, still-
Turns back to land of vie...(2)

~ Nirav Amreliya

☆ Q&A :

1.)Write down the message you want to give from your lyrics.

Ans. : As I came across the magnifiscent scenario of the place aforementioned, I was enchanted seeing the surroundings and as I stepped further along the trail flanked by lake and the foliage grown over there; all of a sudden the view of sacred fig sprouting right out of the 'rugged wall' of the obsolete office startled me with exalted profundity leading me to horripilation and thus inspired me to pen something upon this encounter. Thus I wrote a poem as Wordsworth calls it 'spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings' and 'which takes its origin from emotions recollected in tranquility.'

During the penning of the poem, I combined humans' everlasting 'will' which tends to be boundless in all the possible ways and aspects of one's life with the avians, especially culvers (pigeons) which were flying and rounding in flock over the lake. Rest is upto the readers and audience as to how they find and identify the similarities, incongruence, metaphors, and so on in the poem catered to feed the 'rugged heart' of humans. Thank you!

2.) Which Poem/Song of Bob Dylan/Robert Frost is relatable with your Video. Why?

Ans. : As far as my poem is concerned, I would rather relate it to the poem 'A Late Walk' because the poem seems to occur on the same even as I was happened to do and further talks about the nature and its impact upon human conscience.

When it comes to the song by Bob Dylan to relate to my poetry, I would prefer - from amongst more than 8000 songs - 'Not Dark Yet,' for the very song reminds me (perhaps many of us) of my personal sorrow which had to be irreplaceable part of my early years when I was actually 'growing up' (even today I have been growing up and hope will have been till the last breath I breathe.)

Thank You!