Dylan’s been accused before 
 
 This seems to be the latest in an ongoing series of kerfuffles over sources of Dylan’s work, allegations that date to his first album of original material, 1963’s “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.” Detractors said he rewrote songs by Lead Belly and Henry Thomas, which Dylan said was part of the folk tradition, and that he borrowed the melody for “Blowin’ in the Wind” from a 16th century Protestant hymn. We all do it.” 
 
 The use of phrases from SparkNotes in the Nobel lecture is different from the folk process, said Alex Lubet, a University of Minnesota music professor who has taught classes on Dylan. Dylan did not contact the Nobel committee to acknowledge the honor, nor did he travel to Stockholm to pick it up—Patti Smith filled in for him at the December ceremony, performing “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.” 
 
 For the award to be official conferred, Dylan also had to deliver a Nobel lecture. In Dylan’s case, his past three albums (five discs in all) have been composed of standards. It’s worth mentioning that Dylan turned in his lecture just before the six-month deadline, ensuring that he would get paid. Researchers pointed out that snippets of lyrics could be traced to the works of Ovid, Henry Timrod and other poets. If the Moby-Dick portion of his Nobel lecture was indeed cribbed from SparkNotes, then what is the world to make of it?
– Bob Dylan delivered what was described as an "eloquent" lecture this month as part of his Nobel prize requirements—but one writer says he may have approached the task like a high school student with an overdue project. Dylan discussed three favorite works from childhood and Andrea Pitzer at Slate suspects the Nobel Prize winner for literature may have cribbed much of the Moby Dick portion from SparkNotes. She says at least 20 of the 78 sentences involved strongly resemble SparkNotes passages and compares several of them side by side. Multiple phrases, including "Ahab's lust for vengeance," appear both in SparkNotes and Dylan's talk, but not in Moby Dick itself. He had to give the talk to collect $922,000 in prize money. "Some men who receive injuries are led to God, others are led to bitterness," a quote that one blogger thought Dylan had invented, appears to be based on SparkNotes. Pitzer suggests that Dylan donate some of the prize money to the SparkNotes writer, though others are more forgiving. University of Minnesota music professor Alex Lubet tells the Star-Tribune that Dylan's lecture shouldn't be treated like a classroom assignment. "His lecture is wild and strange," Lubet says. "It’s meant to be a post-modern work of art. Any kind of a collage technique is fair game." In a 2012 Rolling Stone interview, Dylan addressed claims he had lifted lyrics, saying that in songwriting, "You make everything yours. We all do it."