Comparisons are odious, as they say, but let's take a look at the 113 Laureates over the years. Ask yourself how many you've read - or even how many you've heard of. Enjoy the reasons for the award.

List of Nobel laureates in Literature

I'd actually heard of 57 of them, and read all or part (mainly part) of about a dozen or so of that 57. I particularly like the citation extract for the joint 1917 winner, Henrik Pontoppidan - ""for his authentic descriptions of present-day life in Denmark". No doubt a stirring read...

As for song lyrics being poetry, I once listened to an excellent talk by the late, great Ian Dury - one of the wittiest and sharpest of modern, urban song writers in my view - at the Hay-on-Wye festival. The topic was about whether song lyrics were poetry or otherwise. ID was adamant that they were separate, and that his own lyrics in particular were just song lyrics - that and no more. His poetry, should he have written any, would have been a different kettle of fish. The interesting thing was that many in the audience disagreed with him - in the nicest possible way.