His protest anthems ...Blowing in the Wind...protest songs about nuclear war...and racism (at a time when white support of racial equality was important for progress in that arena) made Dylan a poet and prophet for THE rebellious generation.
He was influenced early on had opportunity to meet Woody Guthrie one of the greatest US folk artists. Dylan brought attention to some major and important folk greats~ black blues artists blind fuller, blind lemon jefferson...Rev.Davis,Mississippi Hurt, E. Cotton just to name a few... by covering their songs and stood against racism.
Dylan freely used literary references including Walt Whitman,Kerouac,Chekhov. Made us all take notice of the men that enriched his lyrics. He was never afraid to quote the bible.
His book Chronicles, Vol One,won a National Book Critics Circle nomination in 2005 a book that is a literary mark...not just some celeb dribble. Reading several of the articles about him this evening reminded me just how much influence and cultural enrichment he has given us. Yay! Dylan!
I saw him in concert in New Orleans before hurricane Katrina he is a great stage personality...60 wasn't slowing him down!!