05 September 2007
Newsdesk
The lyrics of Bob Dylan are to be studied in schools across the UK as works of poetry, it has been confirmed.
A series of songs from the rock legend will be included in forthcoming lessons, under the National Poetry Day umbrella.
"I Dreamed I Saw St Augustine", "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" and "Three Angels" are all expected to feature, while pupils will be encouraged to write a ballad inspired by Dylan.
Andrew Motion, the Poet Laureate, welcomed the news, commenting: "Dylan is unique having this extraordinary combination of wonderful melodies with these very interesting words wrapped around them.
"I think it will be a real help, particularly to those people that find poetry in the classroom difficult or off-putting or irrelevant.
"I'm not sure how cool Dylan is amongst the people this is aimed at or how much they're listening to him compared to my generation. But that said I think it is a wonderful idea."
A new Bob Dylan biopic, "I'm Not There", is scheduled to premiere at the Venice Film Festival in early September before being released in the US in November.
