Bob Dylan awarded Nobel Prize in Literature, Governor proclaims 'Dylan Day'

The Nobel Prize Award Ceremony 2016
Patti Smith performs during the Nobel Prize Awards Ceremony at Concert Hall on December 10, 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
Pascal Le Segretain | Getty Images

At Hibbing High School on Saturday, Governor Mark Dayton proclaimed Bob Dylan Day in recognition of Dylan's Nobel Prize in literature.

In a statement, Dayton said, "Bob Dylan was a true son of the Iron Range in his independence, his talent, and his ability to triumph over adversity. He spoke to a generation of young Americans, myself included, who were engaged in an unending war in Vietnam, the fight for civil rights, and rapid changes in our society."

Earlier on Saturday in Stockholm, the Nobel committee awarded Dylan the Nobel Prize.

Horace Engdahl, of the Swedish Academy, introduced Dylan's award saying he has changed our idea of what poetry can be and how it can work.

"In the most unlikely setting of all, the commercial gramophone record, he gave back to the language of poetry its elevated style, lost since the Romantics. Not to sing of eternities, but to speak of what was happening around us, as if the Oracle of Delphi were reading the evening news."

Dylan was not at the ceremony, but singer Patti Smith performed his song, "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" with an orchestra. Though she stumbled twice midway and apologized, saying she was "so nervous."

Watch the entire ceremony here: The 2016 Nobel Ceremony

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