Hi Everyone!! This article will share Bob Dylan The Voice Of A Generation Questions & Answers.
In my previous posts, I have shared the questions and answers of Flames In The Forest, Lochinvar and The Diary of Space Traveller so, you can check these posts as well.
Bob Dylan The Voice Of A Generation Questions & Answers
Word Galaxy
- Decades – one decade means ten years
- Distinguished – outstanding
- In person – physically
- Prestigious – having a high reputation
- Reverent – deep respect
- Reckon – to be of the opinion
- Mundane – very ordinary and dull
- Renown – fame
- Vital – essential
- Perceive – understand
Question 1: Tick the correct sentences and correct the wrong ones:
(a) Bob Dylan was the first musician to win a Nobel Prize – Right
(b) Dylan always had a secret dream of winning a Nobel Prize – Wrong
Correct sentence: He says, ‘being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature was something he never could have imagined or seen coming.’
(c) Bob Dylan had been successful in doing what he set out to achieve – Right
(d) Dylan felt that it was easier to play for fifty thousand people than fifty people – Right
(e) The singer always thought that his songs were literary – Wrong
Correct sentence: He says not once have he ever had the time to ask himself if his songs were literature.
(f) Bob Dylan had raised his voice against social injustice, racism and civil rights – Wrong
Correct sentence: Bob Dylan raised his voice against social injustice, war and racism and became a civil rights campaigner.
(g) He had also sung religiously inspired songs – Right
(h) Dylan was a conformist – Wrong
Correct sentence: Dylan had never been a conformist.
Question 2: Name two authors whose works Dylan had read and absorbed.
Answer: Kipling and Shaw are the names of two authors whose works Dylan had read and absorbed.
Question 3: Pick out two references from the speech that shows that Dylan was surprised to receive the Nobel Prize.
Answer: The two references from the speech that shows Dylan was surprised to receive the Nobel Prize are as follows:
- Being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature was something he never could have imagined or seen coming.
- If someone had ever told him that he had the slightest chance of winning the Nobel Prize, he would have to think that he’d have about the same odds as standing on the moon.
Question 4: What did Dylan aspire for in his lifetime?
Answer: Bob Dylan aspired to:
- Be heard in coffee houses, bars and places like Carnegie Hall, the London Palladium.
- Make records and hear his songs on radio.
Question 5: What mundane matters did Dylan talk about in his speech?
Answer: Mundane matters that Dylan talked about in his speech are:
- Who are the best musicians for his songs?
- Is he recording in the right studio?
- Is a particular song in the right key?
Question 6: What did Dylan thank the Swedish Academy for?
Answer: Dylan thanked the Swedish Academy for thinking about his songs as literature and awarding the Nobel Prize for Literature to him.
Bob Dylan The Voice Of A Generation Questions & Answers
Question 7: Name two distinct characteristics of his songs.
Answer: Two distinct characteristics of his songs are:
- Dylan’s songs are prose poems with layers of inner meaning.
- His songs are constantly recognizable by his distinctive nasal-twang vocals.
Question 8: What happened after Dylan’s Nobel Prize win was announced?
Answer: When the Nobel Prize win was announced, Dylan did not respond to the academy for two weeks. He did not travel to Stockholm for the prize ceremony.
Question 9: Why do you think Dylan compared himself to Shakespeare?
Answer: Dylan was surprised to get the Nobel Prize. He compared himself to Shakespeare because he thinks that while staging a play, Shakespeare at that time would have been more concerned about the everyday matters around the play and won’t have thought that one day the play would become part of literature. Similarly, he hadn’t ever thought that his songs would be considered part of literature and he would win a Nobel Prize.
Question 10: Dylan said, ‘Fifty thousand people have a singular persona, not so with fifty. Each person has an individual, separate identity, a world unto themselves. They can perceive things more clearly.’ What do you understand by this statement? Do you agree with the speaker? Why/why not?
Answer: The lines mean that he understood the Nobel Committee had chosen him after long and careful consideration and discussion as it was a small committee consisting of people with high individuality and opinion.
Question 11: Barack Obama said, ‘Dylan is a little sceptical about the whole enterprise.’ Give two instances from the text to justify the statement.
Answer: Barack Obama said that Dylan was not interested in rehearsal or wanted to take pictures with Obama. He came, sang, shook hands and left. He was not interested in impressing anybody. Dylan in other words never followed convention.
So, these were Bob Dylan The Voice Of A Generation Questions & Answers.