SECTION 2: DISSIMILARITIES
EZRA POUND, the famed American poet, once expressed, “Music begins to atrophy when it departs too far from the dance…poetry begins to atrophy when it gets too far from music.[1]” Based on Pound’s quote, it is evident that music and poetry share many similarities.
However, the two remain distinctive forms of creative expression.
Here are some differences between music and poetry:
- Poetry does not require a tune.
- Music and poetry have different forms and structures.
- Interpretations of music and poetry are different.
- Poetry and music are appreciated differently.
Thanks to their likeness, people have made connections
between music and poetry for millennia. While the similarities are certainly noteworthy, the differences allow art lovers to truly appreciate the importance of both art forms.
1. Poetry Doesn’t Require a Tune
Despite poetry’s long history as a form of music, both art
forms remain their own forms of creative expression. The primary difference between the two is that poetry does not require singing vocals or instrumentation.
Poets[2] do not design their work around a melodic
backdrop.
Meter, pattern, and the implementation of emotion are
commonplace in poetry, music, and song lyrics. Poetry and song lyrics also both utilize rhyming words and phrases, verses, and literary devices to create rhythm.
Unlike song lyrics, however, poetry takes place against a
wall of silence, whereas artists write lyrics within the context of a specific melody.”Songs Are Not Always Poetry”
Music, according to Merriam-Webster, is defined as, “vocal, instrumental, or mechanical sounds having rhythm, melody, or harmony.”
Melody, rhythm, instruments, and vocal ability
each play a role in producing song lyrics. The result is typically a well-structured work of art that evokes an emotion or tells a story, usually both.
You can listen to and read poetry, and you can listen to
music, but you can’t read a song, because, without auditory elements, a song is not a song. In a sense, it becomes a poem.
The two are not written to be interchangeable. With that
said, song lyrics can function as poetry and vice versa. However, lyrics do not usually function as well as standalone writings, and poetry, explicitly written to be spoken or read aloud against a backdrop of silence, may not fare well when set to music.
In fact, composing music around the words of poetry
often results in dramatic failures. However, the right talent sometimes results in beautiful works of art.
2. Music and Poetry Have slight Different Forms and Structures
Most modern-day songs utilize the verse, chorus, and
bridge format. The following “ABABCB” structure is the most common, especially among top hits:
- Verse
- Chorus
- Verse
- Chorus
- Bridge
- Chorus
- Outro
That’s not to say that musicians can’t deviate from this
structure. They can, but this is only one example of a musical form, and it is quite common.
Poems, too, utilize structure through rhyming lines and
meter. Rhythm is maintained using an emphasis on specific syllables.
However, patterns, meter, and rhyme are all intentionally removed in free-verse poetry.
With meter and rhyme eliminated, the factors that
closely link music and poetry are no longer there.
3. Interpretations of Music and Poetry Are Different
Poems tend to be more ambiguous than song lyrics,
whereas song lyrics often clearly elucidate their meaning. In fact, many poets deliberately write poetry without a definitive meaning to further engage the audience and encourage intellectual discussion.
For this reason, it’s a common theme for poets to include
multiple hidden meanings in their poetic works, leaving them open to several different interpretations. Music, even when utilizing wordplay, often stays direct.
Although this is not always the case, it is more common
Judging Music vs. Poetry
Because poems are words organized in a rhythmic
pattern designed to be recited aloud, they are often judged based on:
- Meaning Cadence
- Emphasis
- Emotion
- Syllabic beats
Music, on the other hand, is usually judged based on
how well each of the following elements blends together to create a work of art:
- Melody
- Beat
- Vocals
- Instrumentation
- Lyrics
4. Poetry and Music Are Appreciated Differently
Poetry and music both involve rhythm, flow, expression,
feelings, and deeper meaning. As discussed throughout this article, the primary difference is the absence of words, in some musical compositions, and the absence of music in poetry.
Although these two art forms are similar and of equal
importance and value, appreciation of poetry and music differ widely.
| Poetry | Music |
| Written or spoken words are arranged rhythmically using meter. However, freeform poetry eliminates the use of meter, patterns, and rhyme. | Written or sung words are arranged in the context of a specific melody. |
| Structure often utilizes stanza, meter, and rhyming scheme. Although that is not the case in free-verse poetry. | Structure depends upon the music. Therefore, consideration is given to tune, instruments, vocal ability, rhythm, and other factors. |
| Most poems have a specific structure but do not have particular expectations of length. | While there’s no standard limit on songs, the length of most modern hits is around 5 minutes and 30 seconds. |
| Poems use imagery, rhythm, and sound, through syllabic beats, cadence, and other factors, to express a theme but do not require instrumentation or melody. | Songs express themes through lyrics and melody. The melody often helps convey the message. |
SUMMARY
Poetry and song are compositions that are slight similar in
nature. Poetry is a collection of words that need not be set to music, whereas a song is a composition that can be sung on a particular piece of music. While poetry can also be set to music and sung like a song, there are basic differences between a song and poetry that are not apparent to common people besides music.
Poetry
Poetry is an artistic tool that uses language to make a
composition, which says more in few words and has a much deeper meaning than just words. Right from the nursery rhymes to poems with nationalistic feelings, poems have been considered literary works. Nursery rhymes are very useful for kids as they make it easier for them to learn. Kids are also helped with improved vocabulary when poetry is introduced to them at a tender age.
Poetry is considered a creative form of a language. Poetry is
divided into many genres such as Epic, Jazz, and Nursery and so on. Whatever the genre or form, poetry is always a set of verses, and mostly rhyming at the end, to make it sound better to all.
Song
Song is a musical composition, and inalienably linked with
music. It is a composition containing words set to music and meant to be sung by singers. Though a song can be sung by a person in his voice without musical instruments, songs are mostly sung along with musical instruments for maximum effect. The words in a song are set in such a manner that they rhyme like in poetry, to have an enhanced effect. Songs may be religious, folk, pop, artistic, and so on.
[1] https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/ezra_pound_137339#:~:text=Ezra%20Pound%20Quotes&text=Music% 20begins%20to%20atrophy%20when%20it%20departs%20too%20far%20from,gets%20too%20far%20from%20 music.
[2] https://letterreview.com/whats–the–best–font–size–for–a–poetry–book/
