Think it's time for a mudcat referendum on Bob: a) is Dylan a poet; b) is he a partial plagiarist; or c) no deal, he's just a song and dance man

I'd say he's just a poet, a partial plagiarist, and a song and dance man.

As that other Nobel prisewinner Rudyard Kipling put it

When 'Omer smote 'is bloomin' lyre,
He'd 'eard men sing by land an' sea;
An' what he thought 'e might require,
'E went an' took - the same as me!

The market-girls an' fishermen,
The shepherds an' the sailors, too,
They 'eard old songs turn up again,
But kep' it quiet - same as you!

They knew 'e stole; 'e knew they knowed.
They didn't tell, nor make a fuss,
But winked at 'Omer down the road,
An' 'e winked back - the same as us!