DISCLAIMER: This is purely a practice in argument – I am a devout fan of Dylan’s and treasure “Lay, Lady, Lay” immensely. He expresses far more than a desire for physical intimacy in the song which is important to address before reading.
So… Bob Dylan. I think about him all the time but especially right now with his spotlight in the news over the success of his latest album and him selling his song catalog. All of this attention on him makes me think about all of his accomplishments, most specifically, his 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature. Anyone who comes within a 50 feet diameter of me gets a spiel about Dylan being the Bard of modern times, and I am not wrong. If his earlier works are listened to closely, then it is no surprise to find parallels between his writing with that of the greats. A friend sent me Christopher Ricks’s Dylan’s Vision of Sin back in October, but I was only able to read it in November. It just so happened that while I was reading this, I serendipitously stumbled upon John Donne’s poems. Rick’s book drew a comparison between Dylan and Donne that had never crossed my mind; after thinking about it some, it was obvious that Dylan’s “Lay Lady Lay” is a modern rendering of John Donne’s “To His Mistress Going to Bed”. I was unable to contain my excitement after making this connection and when looking at the lyrics of both works, it is pretty hard to deny the similarity. Donne and Dylan both tastefully explore lust through various poetic devices that merely suggest sexual innuendo rather than explicitly addressing it.
I love how poets have sometimes shared the same goal over the last four hundred years – attempting to seduce women through wordplay and argumentative rhetoric. HA, and they say chivalry is dead! The main thread between Dylan and Donne’s works is their desire to win over the woman’s mind and be rewarded with sex, albeit there is deeper meaning in both Dylan and Donne’s pieces. The opening of Dylan’s song mirrors Donne’s poem. Beyond the likeness in meaning of Donne’s line “Come, Madam, Come” to Dylan’s “Lay, lady, lay”, both are imperative statements. Not only are they saying the same thing, but they are approaching it in the same way as well! Donne uses visual imagery to beautify the entrance to intimacy “safely tread/ In this love’s hallow’d temple, this soft bed”. Dylan also does this when he repeatedly sings, “lay across my big brass bed”. These lyrics produce images that are impossible to differentiate; both Donne and Dylan are luring their women to bed with intentions to consummate!
Here comes another piece of evidence: they both indirectly allude to physical proding. Donne’s approach is commanding his woman to “Licence my roving hands, and let them go” and Dylan takes a more elusive approach in his lines, “His clothes are dirty but his hands are clean/ And you’re the best thing that he’s ever seen”. Dylan masterfully implies that since his clothes are filthy, they must come off. He says his hands are clean, though, to show they are apt to use. Donne is outright with his barren body, “To teach thee, I am naked first; why then/ What needst thou have more covering than a man” and assumes the dominant role with leading by example. Dylan’s subtle cue of nakedness from filth crowns him, like Donne, as the initiator. In truth, it is really difficult to not find Dylan in Donne’s work, and vice versa. Beyond the shared goal of convincing a woman to have sex with them, they both employ countless literary devices that are found in one another’s work.
Dylan, though the Bard of our time, must be connected to the genius of the past. It is clear through this close reading of “To His Mistress Going to Bed” and “Lay Lady Lay” that Dylan’s tactics are inspired by, or arguably rooted in, Donne’s style.
Written in December 2020
Copyright: Selene of The Sky
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