Background
Lyrics are words that are sung or spoken to create a musical piece, forming the backbone of popular music. While lyrics often take on a poetic nature, and can capture emotion and convey stories, some argue that they lack the depth or technical prowess to constitute real poetry. Yet others argue that the undeniable power that words in musical format can convey elevates them to affect listeners in a more powerful way than regular spoken or written text.
Expert Perspectives
Views around the debate differ greatly, depending on which expert you ask. For example, Professor John Smith of the Language Institute claims that lyrics are certainly not poetry and are fundamentally distinct as an artistic form. He explains that lyrics usually exist to accompany and carry a melody, unlike poetry, in which meaning can be taken and interpreted in a range of ways.
In contrast, Professor Jordan Smith of the Poetry Institute offers a different perspective. He argues that lyrics indeed serve a poetic purpose due to their ability to impart complex information in a limited amount of words, just like a well-crafted poem. Similarly, he argues that any fact or emotion conveyed in lyrics can potentially be elevated and embellished by its musical accompaniment, which allows for greater depth of understanding than a regular poem.
Data
As the debate continues, data indicates that the most popular forms of song-writing today involve some iteration of rhymes and choruses, which generally lean toward a poetic style. In a survey of 50 songwriters that were gathered from a popular music streaming platform, the majority of responses highlighted that the poetic form is particularly important in order to ensure that songs are catchy and memorable by utilising the natural rhythm of spoken and written language.
Analysis and Insight
A potential reason for why the realm of music and poetry can overlap so easily could be due to their respective abilities to make use of sound and rhythm to encapsulate stories and emotion. When lyrics are set to music, the emotions and stories that can be imparted can be multi-dimensional, due to the incorporation of volume, tempo and timbre, which together can create a powerful sense of immersion. This in turn can have an incredibly profound effect on the listener, and more so than reading words by themselves.
Exploring Alternative Views
While many people consider lyrics to form a separate and distinct type of art form to poetry, there are in fact those who identify themselves as lyric poets. Take, for example, the work of renowned lyric poet, David Attenborough, in the early 2000s. Attenborough defined the term lyric poet to encompass a set of words spoken in a rhythmic and often repetition-based form, yet still possessed of an intense emotional range. Through his work, Attenborough demonstrated how lyrics are capable of conveying the kind of power associated with traditional poetry.
The Revolution of Lyrics
The medium of lyric-based poetry has revolutionised in recent years through the work of contemporary hip hop and rap artists. This particular evolution has seen a huge rise in the popularity of lyrical poetry, and it has been argued that this is largely attributable to the sheer immediacy of feelings that can be connected to and triggered by particular pieces of lyrical poetry. Along with this, rap tends to incorporate vivid imagery and large amounts of dialogue in order to create a highly personalised form of lyrical poetry, which in turn has attracted large numbers of listeners to the genre.
The Changing Nature of Lyrical Poetry
It is clear that lyrical poetry has changed dramatically in recent years, with both the topics and themes discussed now having a much wider appeal than in the past. Additionally, the emergence of different types of lyrical poetry, such as rap, has created an entirely new genre of music, which has attracted much greater levels of contemporary appeal to lyrical poetry.
As a result of this changing nature of lyrical poetry, many argue that the form is now held in much higher regard than it was previously, with a growing number of people now considering it to be a separate, distinct and highly powerful form of art.
The Relationship Between Music and Lyrics
It is well-documented that the relationship between music and lyrics is an important factor in determining the success of any song. In essence, there needs to be a balance between the two in order for a song to be successful. In this sense, it could be argued that without the accompaniment of music, lyrics would not be able to convey the complex range of emotions and stories they are often associated with.
As such, it is key to remember that the words alone are not enough, as the enhancement of sound and music can often be the difference between an average and exceptional work of lyrical poetry.
The Subjectivity of Lyrics
The debate around the term ‘lyrics’ is likely to remain subjective and highly emotive. Despite different views, the undeniable appeal of lyrics is that they have the power to evoke intense emotion and prompt specific reactions in the listener. It is this power that has seen lyrics become a staple component of popular music and as a result, has arguably elevated them to the level of Poetry.
While some may discount the artistic depth of lyrics, simply based on their use of sounds or repeated words, the fact of the matter is that the art of conveying poems in musical form is highly potent and can often have a far greater impact on the listener than words without an accompanying sound.
The Ability to Transport the Listener
The ability to transport the listener or reader to a different place is another key feature of lyrical poetry, in comparison to traditional poetry. Through the manipulation of melody and sound, the creator of lyrical poetry is able to effectively bring the listener into the language and provide a new perspective on the material being discussed.
Additionally, with the use of metaphor and symbolism, the creator of lyrical poetry is also able to create a heightened sense of awareness, providing more detail and meaning than words on their own ever could. This is arguably the factor which has made lyrics so appealing both to musicians and to their listeners.
The Multimodal Nature of Lyrics
The multi-modal nature of lyrics has been credited with being able to convey more meaning and emotion than traditional poetry. This is because, as a form of ‘embodied text’, lyrics use multiple modes such as audio, visual and aural to convey emotions and stories. With traditional poetry, readers are only left to interpret what they have seen on paper.
In conclusion, while some may be reluctant to accept that lyrics can be classed as poetry, there is no denying the power and potential of words matched to music. The incorporation of visual and aural elements in addition to spoken or written words has the potential to create a powerful work of lyrical poetry, one which has the ability to move and engage the listener in ways that traditional poetry simply cannot.
