Many Answers to the Difference Between a Lyric and a Poem Essay

Lyrics evoke imagery within a song. From the way the word is enunciated to the volume at which the word is expressed, the listener is being encouraged to visualize the lyricist’s emotion. Lyrics with depth can be especially evocative, conjuring positive or negative imagery that synthesizes the songwriter's sentiment in a listener’s mind. Shallow lyrics do the opposite: they fail to fortify the author’s sentiment, often because there is no coherent, well-thought-out expression of emotion. Therefore, shallow lyrics are the worst song lyrics.

There are many forms to write a poem, and two distinct ways are as a sonnet or a villanelle. These two style of poetry have their own way in expressing the author’s message to the reader. In fact, sonnets, according to the text, are “defined as . . . lyric[s] (reference to moods and feelings) poem of fourteen lines. The sonnet will follow one or another of several set rhyme schemes. . . . [T]he sonnet came to life as a vehicle to convey love messages and passions.” By this definition, I can say that sonnets provides the poet with a tool, which they use to share a strong, emotionally based, statement.

As a growing number of teens use technology on a daily basis, teenagers are reading less poetry. Accordingly, they are listening to more and more music. Numerous examples of poetic merit can be found in music at their fingertips. Thus, it is safe to argue that song lyrics are today’s main form of poetry. “Rocky Mountain High” by John Denver and Mike Taylor is an excellent example of this, for it includes figurative language, imagery, and a thematic statement. All of which are elements of poetic merit.

Gloria K. Fiero writes, “The strong association between poetry and music suggests that the human voice [has] a significant influence in both melody and rhythm” (58). The voice of the singer is what gives the song that distinct twist that sets it apart from others, and if the song is originally written as a poem it gives the artist the freedom to interpret and express the lyrics however they see is best fit. Any person is capable of singing or rapping a song, but not everyone is capable of making audiences feel emotions simply through the power and emotion behind their

Another example of their difference would be the vibe they give off. The poem gives off a facetious and funny tone while the song gives off a more serious and straightforward giving them different moods when reading/listening to

There are many different poems in the world some of which you may have not even been aware of. One poem that many people have heard and/or read and have not even realized is, “A Visit from St. Nicholas" or as it is known now as " 'Twas the Night before Christmas.” It comes on every holiday season and is a poem within a song. There are many different songs that are disguised as poems. I will tell you about another poem that has become a song. "A Dream Within a Dream” is a poem written by Edgar Alla (Poe)n Poe and was published in a periodical called The Flag of Our Union on March 31, 1849. It was later recorded as a musical adaption by the band, Elysian Fields in 2000. The poem has a very grim and apocalyptic feel to it as it questions the nature of reality and human existence. According to the poem, “That my days have been a dream / Yet if hope has flown away” (4-5) the author is questioning his own existence and the lack of faith he has in his own life.

I would have to say, how a poem becomes a poem is by how it affects the reader emotionally. Poems use word and emotion in a sense to draw pictures in the readers minds. They tell a story that mirrors an event that the writer may have experienced.

In today’s modern view, poetry has become more than just paragraphs that rhyme at the end of each sentence. If the reader has an open mind and the ability to read in between the lines, they discover more than they have bargained for. Some poems might have stories of suffering or abuse, while others contain happy times and great joy. Regardless of what the poems contains, all poems display an expression. That very moment when the writer begins his mental journey with that pen and paper is where all feelings are let out. As poetry is continues to be written, the reader begins to see patterns within each poem. On the other hand, poems have nothing at all in common with one another. A good example of this is in two poems by a famous writer by

Some may say song lyrics are more poetic and artistic than poems but some think not. Simon Armitage, a popular UK poet says "Songs are not poems, I should say. In fact, songs are often bad poems. Take the music away and what you're left with is often an awkward piece of creative writing full of lumpy syllables, cheesy rhymes, exhausted cliches and mixed metaphors” (Wheeler 1). Simon is right but also wrong because there is many artists out there that make the “cheesy rhymes” and “mixed metaphors” but you also have those songwriters who have true meaning behind the lyrics just like a poem.

First of all, in poetry lyric is an emotional writing that focuses on your thoughts and emotions. It can also be like a song-like quality. In lyric it is made up of two subdivisions that contain elegy and sonnet to make the poem stronger. An elegy is a poem that contains of

poems, ballads, monologues, etc. They may take the form of actual spoken or sung sounds or of

This source discussed the sonnet and lyric (the basis of my project.) It states that a lyric is the genre of internal and individualized emotions. It’s seen as a moment of “personal experience.” (33) The traditional emotion that is associated with the sonnet is love. Both the lyric and the sonnet are connected with song and music. I want to go more in-depth on how loss and death can affect the lyric and sonnet as well, without going into elegy land. This source was very informative on the basics of a sonnet and a lyric—such as how the sonnet has a twist and the lyric is more problematic than one would think. What more goes into a lyric then? (MAYBE) The approach this source is taking is showing the ways a sonnet represents and doesn’t represent a lyric. How exactly are they different and the same? Sonnets are a lyric because of the emotional base put into them. It mentions that in the Romantic peiord, sonnets were not blank-verse and strayed from the conventional form. They used everyday language. That brings up the question as to how did that incorporate into Keats’ sonnets? This source also begs the question, which I agree with, “who determines when something is a lyric or a sonnet?” (28) The lyric was something that could be private or social. What made a sonnet more intimate between reader and poet (though many sonnets were published in newspapers, especially during the Romantic period.) The length can prove to be a problem for sonnets is an issue that this source

What differentiates poem from other works of writing? What makes you realize that what you read is a poem but not a short story? Bearing in mind that the answer might differ from person to person, I believe that the crucial difference is that the underlying message is generally not obvious in the poem, and it forces the readers to think about it for a while to understand its deeper meaning. The fact that the message is not apparent in the poem, is often attributed to the usage of metaphors in the poetry. According to Oxford Dictionary, metaphors are the “figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable”. Even though they are used for different reasons

Poems also have rhythm. Rhythm is built from the accent and meter of a poem. Depending on how and when accents hit in words it creates an audible cadence. The pattern that is setup from this creates the meter. This is analogous to music. There are many parallels that can be drawn from music and songs to poetry. I this is why you can consider many songs to be poems that are set to music accompaniment. In fact going all the way back to the Odyssey we discover that many poems were actually meant to be sung instead of read. There are many ways to break down the rhythm and I haven’t spent the time learning what they are nor have I spent the time dissecting poems to discover their rhythm. I only know of rhythm from what I feel when I read a poem with rhythm. Because of my lack of understanding and comprehension I do not purposefully use rhythm in my writing and I do not plan to start either.

Poetry is literary work in which the expression of feelings and ideas is given intensity by the use of distinctive style and rhythm, poems collectively or as a genre of literature. It is also a quality of beauty and intensity of emotion regarded as characteristic of poems. Poetry (poem) is something that follows a particular flow of rhythm and meter. Compare to prose, where there is no such restriction, and the content of the piece flows according to the story, a poem may or may not have a story, but definitely has structured method of writing.