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This section covers the basics of how to write about poetry, including why it is done, what you should know, and what you can write about.

Writing about poetry can be one of the most demanding tasks that many students face in a literature class. Poetry, by its very nature, makes demands on a writer who attempts to analyze it that other forms of literature do not. So how can you write a clear, confident, well-supported essay about poetry? This handout offers answers to some common questions about writing about poetry.

What's the Point?

In order to write effectively about poetry, one needs a clear idea of what the point of writing about poetry is. When you are assigned an analytical essay about a poem in an English class, the goal of the assignment is usually to argue a specific thesis about the poem, using your analysis of specific elements in the poem and how those elements relate to each other to support your thesis.

So why would your teacher give you such an assignment? What are the benefits of learning to write analytic essays about poetry? Several important reasons suggest themselves:

  • To help you learn to make a text-based argument. That is, to help you to defend ideas based on a text that is available to you and other readers. This sharpens your reasoning skills by forcing you to formulate an interpretation of something someone else has written and to support that interpretation by providing logically valid reasons why someone else who has read the poem should agree with your argument. This isn't a skill that is just important in academics, by the way. Lawyers, politicians, and journalists often find that they need to make use of similar skills.
  • To help you to understand what you are reading more fully. Nothing causes a person to make an extra effort to understand difficult material like the task of writing about it. Also, writing has a way of helping you to see things that you may have otherwise missed simply by causing you to think about how to frame your own analysis.
  • To help you enjoy poetry more! This may sound unlikely, but one of the real pleasures of poetry is the opportunity to wrestle with the text and co-create meaning with the author. When you put together a well-constructed analysis of the poem, you are not only showing that you understand what is there, you are also contributing to an ongoing conversation about the poem. If your reading is convincing enough, everyone who has read your essay will get a little more out of the poem because of your analysis.

What Should I Know about Writing about Poetry?

Most importantly, you should realize that a paper that you write about a poem or poems is an argument. Make sure that you have something specific that you want to say about the poem that you are discussing. This specific argument that you want to make about the poem will be your thesis. You will support this thesis by drawing examples and evidence from the poem itself. In order to make a credible argument about the poem, you will want to analyze how the poem works—what genre the poem fits into, what its themes are, and what poetic techniques and figures of speech are used.

What Can I Write About?

Theme: One place to start when writing about poetry is to look at any significant themes that emerge in the poetry. Does the poetry deal with themes related to love, death, war, or peace? What other themes show up in the poem? Are there particular historical events that are mentioned in the poem? What are the most important concepts that are addressed in the poem?

Genre: What kind of poem are you looking at? Is it an epic (a long poem on a heroic subject)? Is it a sonnet (a brief poem, usually consisting of fourteen lines)? Is it an ode? A satire? An elegy? A lyric? Does it fit into a specific literary movement such as Modernism, Romanticism, Neoclassicism, or Renaissance poetry? This is another place where you may need to do some research in an introductory poetry text or encyclopedia to find out what distinguishes specific genres and movements.

Versification: Look closely at the poem's rhyme and meter. Is there an identifiable rhyme scheme? Is there a set number of syllables in each line? The most common meter for poetry in English is iambic pentameter, which has five feet of two syllables each (thus the name "pentameter") in each of which the strongly stressed syllable follows the unstressed syllable. You can learn more about rhyme and meter by consulting our handout on sound and meter in poetry or the introduction to a standard textbook for poetry such as the Norton Anthology of Poetry . Also relevant to this category of concerns are techniques such as caesura (a pause in the middle of a line) and enjambment (continuing a grammatical sentence or clause from one line to the next). Is there anything that you can tell about the poem from the choices that the author has made in this area? For more information about important literary terms, see our handout on the subject.

Figures of speech: Are there literary devices being used that affect how you read the poem? Here are some examples of commonly discussed figures of speech:

  • metaphor: comparison between two unlike things
  • simile: comparison between two unlike things using "like" or "as"
  • metonymy: one thing stands for something else that is closely related to it (For example, using the phrase "the crown" to refer to the king would be an example of metonymy.)
  • synecdoche: a part stands in for a whole (For example, in the phrase "all hands on deck," "hands" stands in for the people in the ship's crew.)
  • personification: a non-human thing is endowed with human characteristics
  • litotes: a double negative is used for poetic effect (example: not unlike, not displeased)
  • irony: a difference between the surface meaning of the words and the implications that may be drawn from them

Cultural Context: How does the poem you are looking at relate to the historical context in which it was written? For example, what's the cultural significance of Walt Whitman's famous elegy for Lincoln "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed" in light of post-Civil War cultural trends in the U.S.A? How does John Donne's devotional poetry relate to the contentious religious climate in seventeenth-century England? These questions may take you out of the literature section of your library altogether and involve finding out about philosophy, history, religion, economics, music, or the visual arts.

What Style Should I Use?

It is useful to follow some standard conventions when writing about poetry. First, when you analyze a poem, it is best to use present tense rather than past tense for your verbs. Second, you will want to make use of numerous quotations from the poem and explain their meaning and their significance to your argument. After all, if you do not quote the poem itself when you are making an argument about it, you damage your credibility. If your teacher asks for outside criticism of the poem as well, you should also cite points made by other critics that are relevant to your argument. A third point to remember is that there are various citation formats for citing both the material you get from the poems themselves and the information you get from other critical sources. The most common citation format for writing about poetry is the Modern Language Association (MLA) format .

A Full Guide to Writing a Perfect Poem Analysis Essay

01 October, 2020

14 minutes read

Author:  Elizabeth Brown

Poem analysis is one of the most complicated essay types. It requires the utmost creativity and dedication. Even those who regularly attend a literary class and have enough experience in poem analysis essay elaboration may face considerable difficulties while dealing with the particular poem. The given article aims to provide the detailed guidelines on how to write a poem analysis, elucidate the main principles of writing the essay of the given type, and share with you the handy tips that will help you get the highest score for your poetry analysis. In addition to developing analysis skills, you would be able to take advantage of the poetry analysis essay example to base your poetry analysis essay on, as well as learn how to find a way out in case you have no motivation and your creative assignment must be presented on time.

poem analysis

What Is a Poetry Analysis Essay?

A poetry analysis essay is a type of creative write-up that implies reviewing a poem from different perspectives by dealing with its structural, artistic, and functional pieces. Since the poetry expresses very complicated feelings that may have different meanings depending on the backgrounds of both author and reader, it would not be enough just to focus on the text of the poem you are going to analyze. Poetry has a lot more complex structure and cannot be considered without its special rhythm, images, as well as implied and obvious sense.

poetry analysis essay

While analyzing the poem, the students need to do in-depth research as to its content, taking into account the effect the poetry has or may have on the readers.

Preparing for the Poetry Analysis Writing

The process of preparation for the poem analysis essay writing is almost as important as writing itself. Without completing these stages, you may be at risk of failing your creative assignment. Learn them carefully to remember once and for good.

Thoroughly read the poem several times

The rereading of the poem assigned for analysis will help to catch its concepts and ideas. You will have a possibility to define the rhythm of the poem, its type, and list the techniques applied by the author.

While identifying the type of the poem, you need to define whether you are dealing with:

  • Lyric poem – the one that elucidates feelings, experiences, and the emotional state of the author. It is usually short and doesn’t contain any narration;
  • Limerick – consists of 5 lines, the first, second, and fifth of which rhyme with one another;
  • Sonnet – a poem consisting of 14 lines characterized by an iambic pentameter. William Shakespeare wrote sonnets which have made him famous;
  • Ode – 10-line poem aimed at praising someone or something;
  • Haiku – a short 3-line poem originated from Japan. It reflects the deep sense hidden behind the ordinary phenomena and events of the physical world;
  • Free-verse – poetry with no rhyme.

The type of the poem usually affects its structure and content, so it is important to be aware of all the recognized kinds to set a proper beginning to your poetry analysis.

Find out more about the poem background

Find as much information as possible about the author of the poem, the cultural background of the period it was written in, preludes to its creation, etc. All these data will help you get a better understanding of the poem’s sense and explain much to you in terms of the concepts the poem contains.

Define a subject matter of the poem

This is one of the most challenging tasks since as a rule, the subject matter of the poem isn’t clearly stated by the poets. They don’t want the readers to know immediately what their piece of writing is about and suggest everyone find something different between the lines.

What is the subject matter? In a nutshell, it is the main idea of the poem. Usually, a poem may have a couple of subjects, that is why it is important to list each of them.

In order to correctly identify the goals of a definite poem, you would need to dive into the in-depth research.

Check the historical background of the poetry. The author might have been inspired to write a poem based on some events that occurred in those times or people he met. The lines you analyze may be generated by his reaction to some epoch events. All this information can be easily found online.

Choose poem theories you will support

In the variety of ideas the poem may convey, it is important to stick to only several most important messages you think the author wanted to share with the readers. Each of the listed ideas must be supported by the corresponding evidence as proof of your opinion.

The poetry analysis essay format allows elaborating on several theses that have the most value and weight. Try to build your writing not only on the pure facts that are obvious from the context but also your emotions and feelings the analyzed lines provoke in you.

How to Choose a Poem to Analyze?

If you are free to choose the piece of writing you will base your poem analysis essay on, it is better to select the one you are already familiar with. This may be your favorite poem or one that you have read and analyzed before. In case you face difficulties choosing the subject area of a particular poem, then the best way will be to focus on the idea you feel most confident about. In such a way, you would be able to elaborate on the topic and describe it more precisely.

Now, when you are familiar with the notion of the poetry analysis essay, it’s high time to proceed to poem analysis essay outline. Follow the steps mentioned below to ensure a brilliant structure to your creative assignment.

Best Poem Analysis Essay Topics

  • Mother To Son Poem Analysis
  • We Real Cool Poem Analysis
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  • Richard Cory Poem Analysis
  • Ozymandias Poem Analysis
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  • Dover Beach Poem Analysis
  • Annabelle Lee Poem Analysis
  • Daddy Poem Analysis
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  • The Second Coming Poem Analysis
  • Still I Rise Poem Analysis
  • If Poem Analysis
  • Fire And Ice Poem Analysis
  • My Papa’S Waltz Poem Analysis
  • Harlem Poem Analysis
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  • I Too Poem Analysis
  • The Juggler Poem Analysis
  • The Fish Poem Analysis
  • Jabberwocky Poem Analysis
  • Charge Of The Light Brigade Poem Analysis
  • The Road Not Taken Poem Analysis
  • Landscape With The Fall Of Icarus Poem Analysis
  • The History Teacher Poem Analysis
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  • We Wear The Mask Poem Analysis
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  • Digging Poem Analysis
  • The Highwayman Poem Analysis
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  • I Am Joaquin Poem Analysis
  • This Is Just To Say Poem Analysis
  • Sex Without Love Poem Analysis
  • Strange Fruit Poem Analysis
  • Dulce Et Decorum Est Poem Analysis
  • Emily Dickinson Poem Analysis
  • The Flea Poem Analysis
  • The Lamb Poem Analysis
  • Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night Poem Analysis
  • My Last Duchess Poetry Analysis

Poem Analysis Essay Outline

As has already been stated, a poetry analysis essay is considered one of the most challenging tasks for the students. Despite the difficulties you may face while dealing with it, the structure of the given type of essay is quite simple. It consists of the introduction, body paragraphs, and the conclusion. In order to get a better understanding of the poem analysis essay structure, check the brief guidelines below.

Introduction

This will be the first section of your essay. The main purpose of the introductory paragraph is to give a reader an idea of what the essay is about and what theses it conveys. The introduction should start with the title of the essay and end with the thesis statement.

The main goal of the introduction is to make readers feel intrigued about the whole concept of the essay and serve as a hook to grab their attention. Include some interesting information about the author, the historical background of the poem, some poem trivia, etc. There is no need to make the introduction too extensive. On the contrary, it should be brief and logical.

Body Paragraphs

The body section should form the main part of poetry analysis. Make sure you have determined a clear focus for your analysis and are ready to elaborate on the main message and meaning of the poem. Mention the tone of the poetry, its speaker, try to describe the recipient of the poem’s idea. Don’t forget to identify the poetic devices and language the author uses to reach the main goals. Describe the imagery and symbolism of the poem, its sound and rhythm.

Try not to stick to too many ideas in your body section, since it may make your essay difficult to understand and too chaotic to perceive. Generalization, however, is also not welcomed. Try to be specific in the description of your perspective.

Make sure the transitions between your paragraphs are smooth and logical to make your essay flow coherent and easy to catch.

In a nutshell, the essay conclusion is a paraphrased thesis statement. Mention it again but in different words to remind the readers of the main purpose of your essay. Sum up the key claims and stress the most important information. The conclusion cannot contain any new ideas and should be used to create a strong impact on the reader. This is your last chance to share your opinion with the audience and convince them your essay is worth readers’ attention.

Problems with writing Your Poem Analysis Essay? Try our Essay Writer Service!

Poem Analysis Essay Examples 

A good poem analysis essay example may serve as a real magic wand to your creative assignment. You may take a look at the structure the other essay authors have used, follow their tone, and get a great share of inspiration and motivation.

Check several poetry analysis essay examples that may be of great assistance:

  • https://study.com/academy/lesson/poetry-analysis-essay-example-for-english-literature.html
  • https://www.slideshare.net/mariefincher/poetry-analysis-essay

Writing Tips for a Poetry Analysis Essay

If you read carefully all the instructions on how to write a poetry analysis essay provided above, you have probably realized that this is not the easiest assignment on Earth. However, you cannot fail and should try your best to present a brilliant essay to get the highest score. To make your life even easier, check these handy tips on how to analysis poetry with a few little steps.

  • In case you have a chance to choose a poem for analysis by yourself, try to focus on one you are familiar with, you are interested in, or your favorite one. The writing process will be smooth and easy in case you are working on the task you truly enjoy.
  • Before you proceed to the analysis itself, read the poem out loud to your colleague or just to yourself. It will help you find out some hidden details and senses that may result in new ideas.
  • Always check the meaning of words you don’t know. Poetry is quite a tricky phenomenon where a single word or phrase can completely change the meaning of the whole piece. 
  • Bother to double check if the conclusion of your essay is based on a single idea and is logically linked to the main body. Such an approach will demonstrate your certain focus and clearly elucidate your views. 
  • Read between the lines. Poetry is about senses and emotions – it rarely contains one clearly stated subject matter. Describe the hidden meanings and mention the feelings this has provoked in you. Try to elaborate a full picture that would be based on what is said and what is meant.

poetry analysis essay

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There are a lot of benefits why you should refer to the professional writing agencies in case you are not in the mood for elaborating your poetry analysis essay. We will only state the most important ones:

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Read classic and contemporary poems about making and listening to music.  

Classic Poems about Music

“ Suspend, Singer Swan ” by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Suspend, singer swan, the sweet strain…

“ The Song of the Jellicles ” by T. S. Eliot Jellicle Cats come out to-night

“ Pan with Us ” by Robert Frost Pan came out of the woods one day...

“ Ghost Music ” by Robert Graves Gloomy and bare the organ-loft…

“ The Weary Blues ” by Langston Hughes Droning a drowsy syncopated tune…

“ The Banjo Player ” by Fenton Johnson There is music in me, the music of a peasant people…

“ The Gift to Sing ” by James Weldon Johnson Sometimes the mist overhangs my path…

“ The Owl and the Pussy-Cat ” by Edward Lear The Owl and the Pussy-Cat went to sea...

“ The Guitar ” by Federico García Lorca The weeping of the guitar…

“ Listening ” by Amy Lowell ’T is you that are the music, not your song…

“ A Violin at Dusk ” by Lizette Woodworth Reese Stumble to silence, all you uneasy things…

“ My Harp ” by John Rollin Ridge Oh must I fling my harp aside…

“ The Trumpet ” by Edward Thomas Rise up, rise up…

“ Song of Myself, 18 ” by Walt Whitman With music strong I come, with my cornets and my drums…

“ Song of Myself, 26 ” by Walt Whitman Now I will do nothing but listen…

“ With Music ” by Helen Hay Whitney Dear, did we meet in some din yesterday…

“ Endymion ” by Oscar Wilde The apple trees are hung with gold…  

Educator Resources

Browse a selection of lesson plans featuring classic and contemporary poems about music .

“ The Final Movement of a Late Quartet ” by Christian Barter Until the last three hammer strokes batter…   “ Little Fugue ” by Marianne Boruch Everyone should have a little fugue, she says…

“ Birthday ” by Richie Hofmann I look for words in the dark…

“ J. S. Bach: F# Minor Toccata ” by Bill Holm This music weeps, not for sin…

“ Mozart ” by Caroline Knox Can you imagine…

“ Mozart Songbook ” by Joan Larkin Outside on Fremont Ave, black…

“ Soave Sia Il Vento ” by Adrian Matejka In the wobbly pirouette between song…

“ What Is It You Feel I Asked Kurt ” by Diane Seuss What is it you feel I asked Kurt when you listen to…

“ Prelude and Fugue ” by Angela Narciso Torres Something of late November…

“ Fugue, Harpsichord ” by Rosanna Warren Out of her left hand fled…

Contemporary Poems about Jazz

“ Listening to jazz now ” by Jimmy Santiago Baca Listening to jazz now, I’m happy…

“ We Real Cool ” by Gwendolyn Brooks We real cool. We…

“ Meditations at the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park ” by Jericho Brown Dear Tom Dent / We still love you…

“ Jazz Fan Looks Back ” by Jayne Cortez I crisscrossed with Monk…

“ Improvisation on Them ” by Linda Susan Jackson He courts her with Soir de Paris & braids myths in her hair…

“ On 52nd Street ” by Philip Levine Down sat Bud, raised his hands…

“ Charlie Parker (1950) ” by Campbell McGrath Bird is building a metropolis…

“ The Day Duke Raised: May 24th, 1974 ” by Quincy Troupe that day began with a shower…

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6.2: Music and Poetry

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  • Jan-Louis Nagel
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Music and Poetry: Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen - Rock Poets

Musicians have been bringing poetry to a mass audience who might not listen to or read poetry. The ultimate synthesis between rock music and lyrics can be a tricky one. The two forms of expression must complement each other in some kind of balance. Most rock productions tend to lean more on the music than the textual expression, while some singer/songwriters put more emphasis on the poetic choice of words in their songs. Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen belong in the last category; their literary contributions to rock and pop over half a century ranks them among the greatest modernist and contemporary poets. Cohen said about Dylan that “he put the word back into the jukebox,” signifying the intrusion of art into popular culture. Dylan’s rich imagery and often surreal texts and Cohen’s silent and sharp poetic observations certainly were, and still are, read and listened to by an increasing audience all over the world. The songs are personal, often political but always original.

Black and white photo of Bob Dylan playing guitar on a stage

Bob Dylan. (CC BY-SA-NC; Supplier Corbis Supplier NTB scanpix via ScanPix )

The American political scene of the sixties was one of turmoil and unrest with the assassinations of great leaders, race riots, civil rights rallies, the Vietnam War, the Cuba Crisis, student riots, anti-communism, and the Cold War – to list some of the key factors that characterised American society at the time. Like many of the modernist artists, Cohen and Dylan were more into their art than what was going on around them. After songs like “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” and “Masters of War” Bob Dylan was embraced as a protest singer by the anti-war activists, who wanted to make him the voice of their generation. Admittedly, “Hard Rain” was spontaneously written during the Cuba Crisis, and he certainly is aware of political malpractice and injustice. But Dylan never wanted to be labelled and put into any specific category, and when he later left his acoustic concept and turned to a loud electric performance of his songs, there was uproar among his fans – accusing him of betraying their cause. But Dylan let them down and went his own unpredictable ways like he has always done.

Leonard Cohen never intended to become a singer at all. His ambition was to make a living out of his talent for writing. He published some novels in the early sixties that did not catch on very well, so he learned fingerpicking guitar and decided to put his poems into songs. This (probably much to his own surprise) went down with the bohemian beatniks of Greenwich Village, who cared more for a profound and mystic piece of poetry than a glittering stage act and loud music.

Imagery and integrity

Bob Dylan did not set out to be a poet; his ambition was to become a folk singer in the tradition of Woody Guthrie. Leonard Cohen had studied poetry and was more conscious about his poetic project. Hence their poetic approaches are quite different and must be dealt with distinctively. What unifies the two is their integrity and devotion to their work. It is hard to pick representative examples of their massive production that spans over half a century, but the following quotes could be a small sample that may tease the appetite for a more in-depth study of their songs and poetry. Unlike most modernist poets Cohen’s and Dylan’s poetry has a distinct rhythm and rhyme, which of course is because the poetry was meant for singing.

Bob Dylan's Poems

One of Bob Dylan’s most famous songs is “ Mr. Tambourine Man ,” from which these poetic lines are taken: Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky With one hand waving free Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves Let me forget about today until tomorrow. “Desolation Row” is another long poem stacked with enigmatic imagery and references to Shakespeare, Einstein and the Bible; this is the first stanza:

Desolation Road (Bob Dylan) They’re selling postcards of the hanging They’re painting the passports brown The beauty parlor is filled with sailors The circus is in town Here comes the blind commissioner They’ve got him in a trance One hand is tied to the tight-rope dancer The other is in his pants And the riot squad, they’re restless They need somewhere to go As Lady and I look out tonight From Desolation Row Bono (of U2) said about the following lines: “I don’t have a clue about what it means, but it is beautiful”: I Want You (Bob Dylan) The guilty undertaker sighs The lonesome organ grinder cries The silver saxophones say I should refuse you The cracked bells and washed out horns Blow into my face with scorn But it’s not that way I wasn’t born to lose you The lines are quite surreal; Dylan paints images and creates suggestive associations that stir the curiosity of his audience.

Leonard Cohen's Poetic Voice

Leonard Cohen holding a guitar in black and white

Leonard Cohen CC CC-BY-NC-SA-4.0 Photographer: Erik Thorberg

Leonard Cohen’s poetry is more subtle and low-voiced as he in this poem speaks of how love appears where you least expect it to. Note the poetic and evocative juxtapositions (birthmark/stain, snowman/rain etc.) Love Calls You By Your Name (Leonard Cohen) You thought that it could never happen To all the people that you became, Your body lost in legend, the beast so very tame. But here, right here, Between the birthmark and the stain Between the ocean and your open vein, Between the snowman and the rain Once again, once again Love calls you by your name. The woman in your scrapbook Whom you still praise and blame You say they chained you to your fingernails And you climb the halls of fame. Oh, but here, right here Between the peanuts and the cage Between the darkness and the stage Between the hour and the age Once again, once again Love calls you by your name These are the two first stanzas of a beautiful song included on one of his early albums, Songs of Love and Hate (1971). The next example is an excerpt from a more recent poem, included on The Future (1992). Anthem (Leonard Cohen) The birds they sang At the break of day Start again I heard them say Don’t dwell on what Has passed away Or what is yet to be Ah, the wars they will Be fought again The holy dove She will be caught again Bought and sold And bought again The dove is never free Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in In his humble way Leonard Cohen has said about this poem that “it is probably the one I am most pleased with.” And indeed, the last two lines sum up much of Cohen’s poetry beautifully; his melancholy way of pointing out that despite, or even because of our defects we can see our blessings and the bright sides of life. Like the title of one of his novels also indicates, we are Beautiful Losers . Bob Dylan was born in 1941 and Leonard Cohen in 1934. They are still active producing music and poetry, and they are both still touring.

Exercise 6.2.1

  • What do you make of the imagery of Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man”? What do you associate with it? What is the singer asking for?
  • The imagery of “Desolation Row” is both wild and fantastic. On the internet you will find a full version; read it and play the song. See if you can place all his references and allusions.
  • Like Bono said, it is hard to figure out any meaning in the lines of “I Want You,” but find it on the internet, play it, and follow the lyrics. Does it make any sense or is it just words and changing imagery?
  • Look at the juxtapositions of Cohen’s “Love Calls You by Your Name.” What can you say about the distance between the two items in each one?
  • Read the second stanza of Cohen’s “Anthem.” What is this about, and how do you interpret “the dove”?
  • Explain the two last lines of Cohen’s “Anthem.” What do we call such a literary technique?

Contributors and Attributions

Adapted from Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen - Rock Poets by Jan-Louis Nagel, provided by ndla license: CC CC-BY-SA-4.0

The Connection Between Poetry and Music

The Connection Between Poetry and Music

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  • Instructional Plan
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Music helps children develop rhythmic intelligence and notice rhythm in language, which are important skills in learning how to read and developing fluency as readers. In this lesson, students listen to poems read aloud, and they discuss the rhythm and sound of poetry. Students then perform poems using musical instruments to emphasize cadence. Using online tools, they learn about line breaks and the way these affect the rhythm of a poem. Finally, students write poems they believe will be enhanced by music and perform them for the class.

Featured Resources

Line Break Explorer : Students can use this interactive to discover why a poet chose to break lines in certain places.

From Theory to Practice

  • Music exposes children to rhyme, rhythm, and repetition, which are the some of the same skills needed to learn to read.
  • Because poetry has cadence, rhythm, and rhyme, music may be used to complement it.
  • Music may benefit children with learning difficulties.
  • The language of music is understood by all cultures. All cultures use music to communicate, and the sounds and rhythms of music cross cultural boundaries.

Common Core Standards

This resource has been aligned to the Common Core State Standards for states in which they have been adopted. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, CCSS alignments are forthcoming.

State Standards

This lesson has been aligned to standards in the following states. If a state does not appear in the drop-down, standard alignments are not currently available for that state.

NCTE/IRA National Standards for the English Language Arts

  • 1. Students read a wide range of print and nonprint texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.
  • 3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).
  • 4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.
  • 5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.
  • 6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.
  • 12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Materials and Technology

  • Rhythm instruments
  • Computers with Internet access
  • LCD display monitor (optional)

Poetry List

Preparation

Student objectives.

Students will

  • Acquire knowledge and appreciation for beat and meter in poetry by listening to poems that are read aloud and discussing them as a class
  • Learn about the structure of poetry using an online tool to explore line breaks
  • Practice critical thinking by looking for poems that can be appropriately performed using musical instruments to emphasize rhythm
  • Apply the knowledge they have acquired about rhythm in poetry to their own poetry compositions
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the role of music in enhancing the rhythm in poetry by using music to perform both their own poems and those written by others

Note: In between Sessions 1 and 2, choose one of the poems students especially liked and make copies for the entire class.

  • Read lyrics of popular children's songs. Discuss what the lyrics mean and how the music enhances the lyrics.
  • Work with music teachers to help students record their poem rhythms.
  • Ask students who play instruments to bring them to school and accompany poetry readings.

Student Assessment / Reflections

  • Observe students during whole-class discussion and while they work using the Line Break Explorer . Assess student participation and understanding of the topics being discussed.
  • Take anecdotal notes while students perform poems. Assess how well they are able to choose poems with patterns or rhythms and share rhythmic poems in a variety of ways.
  • Collect student poems and assess student ability to write poems that are compatible with music.
  • Calendar Activities
  • Student Interactives

The interactive explores the ways that poets choose line breaks in their writing. After viewing the demonstration, students are invited to experiment with line breaks themselves.

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Skeptical music: essays on modern poetry.

poem and music essay

Skeptical Music  collects the essays on poetry that have made David Bromwich one of the most widely admired critics now writing. Both readers familiar with modern poetry and newcomers to poets like Marianne Moore and Hart Crane will relish this collection for its elegance and power of discernment. Each essay stakes a definitive claim for the modernist style and its intent to capture an audience beyond the present moment.

The two general essays that frame  Skeptical Music make Bromwich’s aesthetic commitments clear. In “An Art without Importance,” published here for the first time, Bromwich underscores the trust between author and reader that gives language its subtlety and depth, and makes the written word adequate to the reality that poetry captures. For Bromwich, understanding the work of a poet is like getting to know a person; it is a kind of reading that involves a mutual attraction of temperaments. The controversial final essay, “How Moral Is Taste?,” explores the points at which aesthetic and moral considerations uneasily converge. In this timely essay, Bromwich argues that the wish for excitement that poetry draws upon is at once primitive and irreducible.

Skeptical Music  most notably offers incomparable readings of individual poets. An essay on the complex relationship between Hart Crane and T. S. Eliot shows how the delicate shifts of tone and shading in their work register both affinity and resistance. A revealing look at W. H. Auden traces the process by which the voice of a generation changed from prophet to domestic ironist. Whether discussing heroism in the poetry of Wallace Stevens, considering self-reflection in the poems of Elizabeth Bishop, or exploring the battle between the self and its images in the work of John Ashbery,  Skeptical Music  will make readers think again about what poetry is, and even more important, why it still matters.

poem and music essay

How Music Influences Poetry and Poets

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Chris M. Arnone

The son of a librarian, Chris M. Arnone's love of books was as inevitable as gravity. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Missouri - Kansas City. His novel, The Hermes Protocol, was published by Castle Bridge Media in 2023 and the next book in that series is due out in winter 2024. His work can also be found in Adelaide Literary Magazine and FEED Lit Mag. You can find him writing more books, poetry, and acting in Kansas City. You can also follow him on social media ( Facebook , Goodreads , Instagram , Twitter , website ).

View All posts by Chris M. Arnone

poem and music essay

Winter Young is an international pop sensation whose star power has smashed records. Sydney Cossette is the youngest and most ambitious spy in her covert ops group. When a major crime boss invites Winter to perform a private concert for his daughter’s birthday, Sydney and Winter's lives suddenly collide. Tasked with infiltrating the crime organization’s inner circle, unlikely partners Winter and Sydney (posing as Winter’s bodyguard) are on a collision course with danger – and Cupid’s arrow – in the next sensation from #1 New York Times bestselling author Marie Lu.

When we think about music and poetry, song lyrics pull at our brains like gravity. Sometimes these lyrics are deep and full of vivid imagery like “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday , based on the poem by Abel Meeropol. Often, in music, the lyrics are lacking depth, but are still catchy and at least in rhyming couplets. Pick just about any Billboard Top 100 song, for instance.

The relationship between music and poetry goes both ways, though. Even more than musicians pull inspiration from poets, poets pull inspiration from everything around them, including music. Sometimes it’s a name-drop or leveraging a shared cultural touchstone. Sometimes it’s riffing on a musician’s lyrics. There are entire poetic forms based on music, too. Here are some ways in which music influences poetry and poets.

Poetic Forms

Blues and jazz are two genres of music very closely related to African American culture. Blues has a repetitive structure, focusing on melancholy stories, often of Black struggles in America. Jazz, on the other hand, is more improvisational and unstructured. Both of these genres have poetic forms based on them.

The Blues poem often follows a strict structure (though many good poems inevitably breaks their structure) and focuses on the same themes as Blues music: despair, sex, and struggle. Though, as Ralph Ellison said, there is also the drive to overcome “through sheer toughness of spirit.”

The form starts with a declaration in the first line, a variation of that declaration in the second line, and an ironic alternative in the third line. Numerous Black poets like Helene Johnson, Tyehimba Jess, and Kevin Young have written great Blues poems over the years. “The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes is one of the most famous Blues poems that starts like this:

Droning a drowsy syncopated tune, Rocking back and forth to a mellow croon,           I heard a Negro play. Down on Lenox Avenue the other night           By the pale dull pallor of an old gas light He did a lazy sway . . .  “The Weary Blues” by Langston Hughes

Jazz poetry , on the other hand, is as varied as the music it draws from. The poetry form emerged alongside the music genre in the early 20th century and really took off during the Harlem Renaissance. These poems are all about riffing, improvising, surprising, and playing with syncopated rhythms. Just read the opening lines of “Old Lem” by Sterling A. Brown:

I talked to old Lem and old Lem said: “They weigh the cotton They store the corn We only good enough To work the rows; “Old Lem” by Sterling A. Brown

Now read that again. Aloud. Feel the rhythm of it. Nothing like a Shakespearean sonnet, is it?

Music in Modern Poetry

More than poetic forms based on music, poets often pull from musicians in a variety of ways. The first is by directly referencing musicians by name or by referencing their lyrics. Why do this? Poetry reflects life. Popular musicians are very much part of the public zeitgeist and, therefore, part of life.

There’s an emotional shorthand that occurs when referencing a popular musician. If I name-drop Beyoncé, a certain image comes to mind, certain songs from her time with Destiny’s Child to her recent Grammy wins for Renaissance . If I mention Metallica, however, there’s a very different image of four white guys playing very heavy, fast music. In both cases, each person has their own emotional attachment to a particular artist. That attachment comes along for the ride when a poet mentions an artist.

Name drops can come in many forms, like a tribute in “Ode to Herb Kent” by Jamila Walsh or an essay in poetry like “ABBA” by Dennis Cooper. Mentioning a musician and their music can also capture the mood of an entire evening like in “Ode to Fetty Wap (written after strip club)” by Roya Marsh. Watch, too, for the bonus musical reference to “Sweet Caroline,” possibly the whitest, straightest song ever written. See how that song mentioned in an ode to Fetty Wap brings a different sort of energy, a contrast in musical form.

Other poems can pull inspiration from an entire genre without dropping a single name, like in “Hip-Hop Ghazal” (pronounced like “guzzle”) by Patricia Smith. Pick a musical genre. Pick a famous artist. You can likely find a poem mentioning them and pulling inspiration from them. Seriously. Just search for your favorite musician and “poem.” See what turns up.

Of course, the relationship between poetry and music makes sense. Poets are just people, after all. We’ve all been inspired by music in some way. Many novels, movies, and TV show episodes take their names from song titles. Songwriters reference, sample, and borrow from each other liberally. We all find comfort in music from time to time. Poets are no different, weaving their favorite songs into their art in any way they can.

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The Relationship Between Music and Poetry

poem and music essay

Poetry and music have a lot in common. They’re both very personal, and the best poems and songs share a common goal, which is to make you feel one specific thing. Both of these art forms share many similarities while also being unique in their own way.

Music without words has an immediate emotional power that resists translation into words, while poetry has a lasting meaning that cannot be expressed through melody alone.

Music and Poetry Emotionology | Daniel Kosel | TEDxBillings

1. Music and poetry have a lot in common

2. both music and poetry are forms of expression, 3. both music and poetry rely on a combination of sound and silence, 4. there are many different types of music and poetry, 5. music and poetry share similar themes such as love, loss, and life, 6. both music and poetry use patterns of words, 7. they both use rhythm to create emotion, 8. poetry can be found in song lyrics while music can be found in poems, 9. both music and poetry are timeless, 10. music can motivate people to create poetry while poetry can inspire musicians, related posts:.

The simplest and most obvious aspect of the relationship between poetry and songwriting is the way that both rely on rhythm, meter, rhyme, stress patterns, alliteration, and assonance to convey meaning.

They are both creative acts with the power to change lives. Both music and poetry are often used as an outlet for emotions, providing solace in times of trouble or joy. People can also gain a better understanding of themselves through poetry, while music enables listeners to reveal their deepest feelings through lyrics or tone of voice.

Whether it’s the silences in between musical notes, their timing, or the spaces in between words when reciting a poem, silence is an important part of both art forms. Even in bars where poets perform, there are usually long pauses after every sentence. Poetry also uses words that have no sound, such as “shhh!”

For example, a person might reference rap music or Shakespearean sonnets when talking about the relationship between music and poetry. These terms refer to different genres within each art form. Rock ‘n’ roll, jazz, blues, and hip-hop are some of the different musical genres. Free verse, haiku, and sonnets with rhyme are popular types of poetry.

These themes are so common in both art forms that they have almost become clichés. Music and poetry can be used to express happiness, sadness, anger, or any other emotion, as well as various situations such as heartache or recovery from a relationship breakup.

The pleasure of poetic pattern - David Silverstein

A rhyme scheme is the pattern followed by words in a poem, while a meter defines the number of syllables in each line of verse. Poems also use different rhetorical devices to convey their meaning through sound and rhythm like alliteration (repetition of initial sounds), assonance (vowel sounds), or consonance (consonant sounds).

The rhythm of music is created by the combination of different instruments or notes, while poetry has its own patterns to define the way words are said out loud. Poetry can convey meaning through poetic devices like assonance, alliteration, and repetition in its writing style. The proper diction and volume are crucial in poetry as well.

LYRICS Vs POETRY - WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE(60 second songwriting lesson)

Songwriters often use poetic devices in their lyrics and combine them with music. Some bands write songs that tell a story or express an emotion like pain, loss, or anger, which is similar to how poets can use words to paint a vivid picture of reality through creative expression.

Lyric poetry is a form of modern/formal poetry that communicates personal thoughts or experiences, usually in the first person. Lyric poetry, in essence, was made to be sung so the connection here is very obvious.

They have the power to connect people over time, making them relevant even when culture and context change. Despite the wide variety of music and poetry forms, their underlying similarities have allowed their meaning to remain unchanged throughout history.

Just as music is as relevant today as before, so is poetry. People still require a dose of music and even poetry in instances and scenarios of love, sadness, and growth.

This is because music and poetry both provide a way to understand oneself and the world around them. When people are overwhelmed with strong emotions, either art form can help them express themselves abstractly. This is why many musicians write songs about their own life events while poets frequently reference themes such as love and loss in their work.

Music and poetry have their own unique qualities, but they also share several similarities. Both have been around for thousands of years, providing a means to express emotions as well as other abstract ideas, such as love and loss. Although there are many different types of music and poetry, the relationship between these art forms remains unchanged since they both provide a way to express oneself.

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‘With the exception of Patti Smith, punk is not usually associated with poetry’

Poetry and music are more closely related than we think

Cerys Matthews

From punk to poem-songs, the 2016 Poetry and Lyrics festival reveals how music fits into the poetic tradition

T he Welsh word “cerdd” can be translated as either “verse” or “music”. It covers both meanings, because, as we know from history, when the great bards were performing their poetry it would be accompanied by music. The two were always intertwined and music, poetry, spoken word and performance have been a part of our society for centuries. The festivals called “eisteddfod” combine literature, music and poetry. These cultural competitions were not just for the rich or educated, but were held in pubs and other meeting places and brought everyone together. They are part of an oral tradition entrenched in Welsh society as it is in many other cultures, as diverse as the Somali tradition of oral storytelling or praise poetry in India and Pakistan.

The Poet in the City festival of Poetry and Lyrics is another way of bringing people together and highlighting the idea that poetry and music are not, and have never really been, separate. The events will delve into the nooks and crannies of many different genres to draw out this connection and show how it lives in unexpected places. Take punk, for example: with the exception of artists such as Patti Smith , it’s not usually associated with poetry. But Steve Lamacq, along with the Adverts’ TV Smith, Pauline Murray of Penetration and Crass’s Penny Rimbaud, will consider a less celebrated side of the movement: the lyrics about tenderness, love and social commentary that articulated a generation’s experience of the world. It is work that fits easily into a poetic tradition.

Elsewhere we only have to go to children’s poetry and nursery rhymes for more evidence. The playfulness of poetic language makes much more sense to them and provides a highly imaginative means of connecting with the world – they don’t question it, and the music sticks with them. John Hegley will be exploring this in his PO-NG (poem-song) writing workshop for families.

Another interesting angle is to ask what are the characteristics of those poems that entice composers to set them to music. So many classical musicians have adapted writers such as AE Housman or Walt Whitman, but composers of music from folk to soul have done the same.

Does it work so well the other way? Poems might function well as lyrics, but can lyrics be read as poetry? I suspect it’s harder. The structure of song and lyric can be quite specific to that song. Songs often rely on repetition. But however you view it, whether listening to song or poem, there is an endless fascination in the power of words, in the impact of a perfect turn of phrase. Take the work of the great lyricist Don Black, someone who sees the issue as black and white and for whom a lyric is a lyric and poetry is something else entirely. There is a line in his song “Born Free”: “Stay free, where no walls divide you”. I’ve heard it and read it so often. And every time it floors me.

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4 Differences Between Poetry and Music

4 Differences Between Poetry and Music

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 .” Based on Pound’s quote, it’s evident that music and poetry share many similarities. However, the two remain distinctive forms of creative expression.

Here are 4 differences between music and poetry:

  • Poetry doesn’t 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. Read on to learn more about the differences between poetry and music. 

poem and music essay

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 doesn’t require singing vocals or instrumentation. 

Poets 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.

That sounds exactly the same as poetry, right? Well, not exactly.

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 aren’t 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.

poem and music essay

2. Music and Poetry Have 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:

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’s 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 pretty direct. 

Although this isn’t always the case, it’s more common in music versus poetry .

Judging Music vs. Poetry

Because poems are words organized in a rhythmic pattern designed to be recited aloud, they’re often judged based on: 

  • 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: 

  • Instrumentation

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 and Music in School

In educational settings, poetry is considered to be of more literary significance than songs due to the use of different literary devices and poetry’s ambiguity.

Poems are often read and analyzed in the classroom, whereas songs, particularly modern ones, aren’t taught throughout many K-12 curriculums. If a song is introduced or studied in school, it’s usually because it’s of cultural or historical significance relating to a specific course, not for the interpretation of its meaning.

In addition, poetry, because it’s most often written and recited by the writer , usually features a higher level of internal reflection and personal experience. Through this, the audience forms empathy for the artist , which can result in a higher appreciation for their work.

Of course, music also regularly achieves empathic appreciation, especially if the listener relates to the story or the meaning behind it. However, people seem more connected with the song itself versus the singer. 

Contrarily, in poetry , people often feel a connection to the poet.

Drink a Beer Poem Meaning

  • Categories: Symbolism

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Published: Mar 25, 2024

Words: 1088 | Pages: 2 | 6 min read

Table of contents

I. introduction, a. overview of the poem "drink a beer", b. brief summary of the poem's content, c. thesis statement: analyzing the deeper meaning behind the lyrics of the poem, ii. analysis of the poem's lyrics, a. examine the symbolism of drinking a beer in the context of the poem, b. explore the themes of loss, grief, and coping with emotions, c. discuss the significance of the narrator's emotional journey in the poem, iii. contextual analysis, a. investigate the background of the poem's author, luke bryan, b. consider the cultural significance of drinking beer as a coping mechanism, c. discuss the influence of country music and its themes on the poem.

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Guest Essay

Same Old Song: Private Equity Is Destroying Our Music Ecosystem

A colorful drawing of a young Whitney Houston singing with a pained expression.

By Marc Hogan

Mr. Hogan is a freelance writer, reporter and music critic.

Does that song on your phone or on the radio or in the movie theater sound familiar? Private equity — the industry responsible for bankrupting companies , slashing jobs and raising the mortality rates at the nursing homes it acquires — is making money by gobbling up the rights to old hits and pumping them back into our present. The result is a markedly blander music scene, as financiers cannibalize the past at the expense of the future and make it even harder for us to build those new artists whose contributions will enrich our entire culture.

Take Whitney Houston’s 1987 smash “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me),” which was bought in late 2022 as part of a $50 million to $100 million deal by Primary Wave, a music publishing company backed by two private equity firms. The song was recently rebooted into our collective hippocampus via a movie about the singer, titled, naturally, “I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” which helped propel streams of the song and her hits collection. Primary Wave — which has entered into a variety of deals with artists or their estates that could include publishing rights, image rights and recorded-music revenue streams — has also helped introduce a Whitney Houston signature fragrance and a nonfungible token based on an unreleased Houston recording.

Buying up rights to a proven hit, dusting it off and dressing it up as a movie may impress at a shareholder conference, but it does little to add to a sustainable and vibrant music ecosystem. Like farmers struggling to make it through the winter — to think of another industry upended by private equity — we are eating our artistic seed corn.

Private equity firms have poured billions of dollars into music, believing it to be a source of growing and reliable income. Investors spent $12 billion on music rights in just 2021 — more than in the entire decade before the pandemic. Though it is like pocket change for an industry with $2.59 trillion in uninvested assets , the investments were welcomed by music veterans as a sign of confidence for an industry still in a streaming-led rebound from a bleak decade and a half. The frothy mood, combined with a Covid-related loss of touring revenue and concerns about tax increases, made it attractive for many artists, including Stevie Nicks and Shakira , to sell their catalogs, some for hundreds of millions of dollars.

How widespread is Wall Street’s takeover? The next time you listen to Katy Perry’s “Firework,” Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop the Feeling” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” on Spotify or Apple Music, you are lining the pockets of the private investment firms Carlyle, Blackstone and Eldridge. A piece of the royalties from Luis Fonsi’s “Despacito” goes to Apollo. As for Rod Stewart’s “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy” — hey, whoever turns you on, but it’s money in the till for HPS Investment Partners.

Like the major Hollywood studios that keep pumping out movies tied to already popular products, music’s new overlords are milking their acquisitions by building extended multimedia universes around songs, many of which were hits in the Cold War — think concerts starring holographic versions of long-dead musicians , TV tie-ins and splashy celebrity biopics . As the big money muscles these aging ditties back to our cultural consciousness, it leaves artists on the lower rungs left to fight over algorithmic scraps , with the music streaming giant Spotify recently eliminating payouts for songs with fewer than 1,000 annual streams.

The grim logic that shuttered the big-box store chain Toys “R” Us and toppled the media brand Vice is also taking hold of our music. Historically, record labels and music publishers could use the royalties from their older hits to underwrite risky bets on unproven talent. But why “would you spend your time trying to create something new at the expense of your catalog?” asked Merck Mercuriadis, the former manager of Beyoncé and Elton John who founded Hipgnosis.

Instead, self-styled disrupters can strip mine old hits and turn them into new ones. Nearly four years ago, the publicly traded Hipgnosis Songs Fund bought a 50 percent stake in the funk star Rick James’s catalog, which includes his irresistibly catchy 1981 hit “Super Freak.” To monetize its prize, Hipgnosis found a lightly modernized update of the “Super Freak” track, had Nicki Minaj assemble a songwriting crew and voilà: In 2022, Ms. Minaj’s “Super Freaky Girl,” essentially the pop-rap superstar rapping over “Super Freak,” became her first No. 1 single that wasn’t a joint release. Hipgnosis trumpeted the win in its annual report .

This creative destruction is only further weakening an industry that already offers little economic incentive to make something new. In the 1990s, as the musician and indie label founder Jenny Toomey wrote recently in Fast Company , a band could sell 10,000 copies of an album and bring in about $50,000 in revenue. To earn the same amount in 2024, the band’s whole album would need to rack up a million streams — roughly enough to put each song among Spotify’s top 1 percent of tracks . The music industry’s revenues recently hit a new high , with major labels raking in record earnings , while the streaming platforms’ models mean that the fractions of pennies that trickle through to artists are skewed toward megastars.

Fortunately, some of the macroeconomic forces that have brought us that Whitney Houston perfume (forged from a deal between Primary Wave, Ms. Houston’s estate and a perfumer) and a Smokey Robinson wristwatch (via a partnership with Shinola) are shifting. As interest rates have risen, the surge has faded. In February, word surfaced that the private equity behemoth KKR was beating a quiet retreat from the music space. More recently, Hipgnosis Songs Fund, the owner of “Super Freak,” cut the value of its music portfolio by more than a quarter in the wake of a shareholder revolt. Long-hyped deals to sell the catalogs of Pink Floyd , for a proposed $500 million, and Queen , for a reported $1.2 billion, have yet to bear any public fruit.

And that’s probably fine. All music is derivative at some level — outside a courthouse or a boardroom, music has a folk tradition in which everybody borrows ideas from everybody — but it’s hard to argue that already wealthy artists should receive 1990s-level compensation for the type of flagrantly recycled fare that the private equity cohort demands. A music world without, say, a “Dark Side of the Moon” theme park ride or a “Bohemian Rhapsody” film sequel seems like one where fresher sounds could have a little more room to breathe.

And subscription growth for streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music seems likely to slow, as the finite number of possible customers hits its limit. With less growth, values for music rights are expected to level off . Perhaps that will leave more money in the pool for musicians just starting their careers.

Music is invaluable, but to the music industry and the technology companies that now distribute its products, songs are quick dopamine hits in an endless scroll — and musicians are paid accordingly. The presence of Wall Street didn’t start the systematic devaluation of music, but it did bring this dismal reality into stark relief. Private equity’s push into music rights may have proved to be less a sign of a gold rush than yet another canary in a coal mine.

Musicians’ groups have been fighting for fairer pay, and this month, Representatives Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Jamaal Bowman of New York, both Democrats, introduced a bill intended to increase artists’ streaming payouts. Though such efforts seem sure to face stiff opposition, it’s long past time for the music industry to try something new. We need to make the making of music important enough again for that future John Lennon to pick up a guitar.

Marc Hogan is a freelance writer, reporter and music critic.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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poem and music essay

My Davidson | A Student Blog Photo Essay: English Scholars Go to AWP Conference

a compilation of images from a writing conference

In February, Abbott Scholars in Davidson College’s English Department had the opportunity to attend the AWP (Association of Writers & Writer Programs) Conference in Kansas City. Check out their photos and reflections. 

About the Authors

Isabel smith '24: poetry & book fairs.

The Abbott Scholars Program allows students to spend a year crafting either a scholarly or creative thesis on a topic of their choice, working alongside a director, a reader, and the other scholars. You get an extended period of time to produce strong writing, opportunities to talk with visiting authors, and the ability to request funding for related research and travel.

a group of young men and women standing and smiling

Abbott Scholars

One travel opportunity is the chance to attend the Association of Writers & Writer Programs (AWP) conference, which seven of us went to in February of this year. This year, the conference was in Kansas City, and it lasted three days: Thursday to Saturday. Each of us individually picked what panels to go to each day. I am writing a poetry thesis, so the first talk I attended was “Sound and Color: Poets and Visual Artists in Exquisite Exchange.” The presentation was my favorite of all of them because of how illuminating and beautiful it was. Each poet had partnered with a visual artist, and they shared the process of working in tandem to create together, displaying photographs, blurbs of text exchanges, paintings, and finally, the finished poetry. Due to this experience, I decided to incorporate visual art into my own practice, and I have since begun working on finding available art as well as creating some myself. Additionally, my mother is a painter and my father is a poet, so I was very excited to share what I had learned with the both of them.

Throughout the few days, I attended panels on drafting tips and tricks (featuring Davidson Professors Parker and Shavers), sharing elegies, queer post-religious poetry, and trans poetics, all of which were a pleasure and incredibly helpful. Another important aspect of the conference was the bookfair. It was a labyrinth, spanning an entire floor of the huge conference center. Besides fun and silly booths — like one labeled “Poetic Help”  — the bookfair featured presses, literature reviews, and MFA programs, so I got the chance to talk to experts in the field of writing and publishing. They also tended to give out free books, excitingly, so I got quite the haul, all of which I can’t wait to read. At night, the seven of us — Tavie Kittredge, Michael Chapin, Nate Bagonza, Mason Davis, Taylor Dykes, Abby Morris, and myself — would explore the city, including events put on by AWPers. We went out to dinner together and attended the keynote, a poetry reading at a cat cafe, and a Rock & Roll-themed reading. It was amazing to bond with my peers and explore a new city. Thanks to the funding of the Abbott Scholars Program, I know much more about how to pursue a future in writing.

a collection of books on a black carpet

Michael Chapin ’24: Surrounded by Passionate Writers

The seven of us traveling together really solidified the bonds we’ve been building over the past semester and allowed us to spend time together outside of our thesis work, whether that was over Thai or ramen for dinner or just taking the time to explore the city. 

a sign reading "welcome to the AWP24 Conference & Bookfair!"

Getting to spend that time at AWP was incredibly special because, for me at least, it was the first time being surrounded by people deeply connected and committed to writing in all its forms. We attended events ranging from poetry readings at cat cafés to queer narrative presentations in speakeasy bars. 

My personal highlight of the conference was listening to Jericho Brown deliver the keynote speech in which he called on us to challenge the world as we know it — to challenge book bans and our perception of the world as impossible to change. Brown asked why we can’t imagine a better world while acknowledging that a better world is not created without a fight. A quote from the speech that has stuck with me in the weeks since was his question: “If the fight is against fascism, who do we need to be if we lose that fight?” And then, who do we need to be to win?

a plate of barbecue in Kansas City

Trying a taste of Kansas City barbecue!

two young people walk a city street

Exploring the streets of Kansas City.

Mason Davis '24: The Impact of AWP

The best part of the conference? Talking to authors, talking to MFA directors, talking to independent publishers … Being honest about what I wanted to know and not feeling awkward about lacking experience was so valuable. 

The best single moment I had was cornering Susan Choi and telling her how much I loved  Trust Exercise . She seemed so delighted that I loved the book, which warmed my heart. AWP carried an infectious feeling of immense creative potential that has stuck with me vividly.

a group of young men and women take a selfie

Now that I’ve seen a piece of the literary world, I want to be a part of it. I loved talking about books and the book-world all day. It felt a bit like the Davidson College campus except that  everyone wants to do creative writing. That was a dream for me. I felt sad coming back to reality ... Sitting side-by-side with people who have just done a fantastic reading, or highly regarded editors, or publishers etc. etc. made me feel like my goals are imminently possible. There is so, so much writing out there and so many people making it work, somehow. If they can do it, so can I. 

I'd also been skeptical about MFA programs (how will I afford it? is it even necessary?), but meeting all those MFA students and directors has convinced me that I'd be doing myself a serious disservice by not applying to programs in the next 1-5 years, depending on where life takes me. Not to get ahead of myself.

I want to express my gratitude to the Abbott family (and personally Susan, who was so wonderful to share a dinner with) for the opportunity to, in a sense, role-play as a 'real' writer for an extended weekend and get to try on those shoes. I liked how they fit. I can only speak with certainty for myself, but I know I felt (re)invigorated in becoming a person of letters.

Keep Exploring

Learn more about English at Davidson College

Learn more about the Abbott Scholars Program

  • March 26, 2024
  • My Davidson

IMAGES

  1. 30 Poems About Music To Bring Us Together

    poem and music essay

  2. Music Poems

    poem and music essay

  3. How to Write a Poem Analysis Essay: Full Guide by Handmadewriting

    poem and music essay

  4. What is the Difference Between Song and Poem

    poem and music essay

  5. 15 Soul-Stirring Poems About Music And Its Power

    poem and music essay

  6. Write an essay on Music in english

    poem and music essay

VIDEO

  1. 10 LINES ABOUT MY FAVOURITE MUSIC || ESSAY ABOUT MY FAVOURITE MUSIC 🎼

  2. Playing A Poem (Music Makes Light)

  3. theme paint courage honey contest music essay emergency fish

  4. poem #poem #music #motivationalvideo #babygirl

  5. Music Essay in English || Essay on Music in English

  6. appreciation of poem||essay appreciation||appreciation of poem the world is mine

COMMENTS

  1. How to Write a Poetry Essay (Complete Guide)

    Main Paragraphs. Now, we come to the main body of the essay, the quality of which will ultimately determine the strength of our essay. This section should comprise of 4-5 paragraphs, and each of these should analyze an aspect of the poem and then link the effect that aspect creates to the poem's themes or message.

  2. Poetry and Music

    Courtesy of Getty Images.) Poetry and music have been intertwined for thousands of years. In antiquity, poems were often sung: the first lyric poets in ancient Greece performed their work to the accompaniment of the lyre, and the oldest anthology of Chinese poetry, the Shijing, was a collection of songs. In southern Europe in the middle ages ...

  3. Poetry Analysis Essay: Expert Guide with Examples and Tips

    Poem analysis essay example: 'Robert Frost's poem 'The Road Not Taken,' published in 1916, is a widely celebrated piece of American literature. In this poem, Frost explores the theme of choices and their lifelong impact. ... Music Analyzing the music of a poem involves examining the poet's use of sound patterns, rhythm, meter, and other ...

  4. 15 Soul-Stirring Poems About Music And Its Power

    5. "Music when Soft Voices Die (TO -)" by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Excerpt: Music, when soft voices die, Vibrates in the memory—. Odours, when sweet violets sicken, Live within the sense they quicken. 6. "Tell Me How the World Ends" by Amanda Torroni.

  5. PDF AP English Literature and Composition

    The analysis of auditory imagery is multifaceted and rich: auditory imagery forms the "'rhythm of childhood,' which evokes nostalgic bumps and crashes of childhood" and the poem "link[s] the most common musical element of childhood — a lullaby — to Harper's more specific form of childhood music — a saxophone.".

  6. Writing About Poetry

    Writing About Poetry. Writing about poetry can be one of the most demanding tasks that many students face in a literature class. Poetry, by its very nature, makes demands on a writer who attempts to analyze it that other forms of literature do not. So how can you write a clear, confident, well-supported essay about poetry?

  7. A Full Guide to Writing a Perfect Poem Analysis Essay

    Body Paragraphs. The body section should form the main part of poetry analysis. Make sure you have determined a clear focus for your analysis and are ready to elaborate on the main message and meaning of the poem. Mention the tone of the poetry, its speaker, try to describe the recipient of the poem's idea.

  8. Poetry & Music

    Poetry & Music - Enjoy this collection of texts exploring the connection between music and poetry. Poetry & Music - The Academy of American Poets is the largest membership-based nonprofit organization fostering an appreciation for contemporary poetry and supporting American poets.

  9. Essays on Poetic Theory

    Essays on Poetic Theory. This section collects famous historical essays about poetry that have greatly influenced the art. Written by poets and critics from a wide range of historical, cultural, and aesthetic perspectives, the essays address the purpose of poetry, the possibilities of language, and the role of the poet in the world.

  10. 13.4: Sample essay on a poem

    Example: Sample essay written on a Langston Hughes' poem. The following essay is a student's analysis of Langston Hughes' poem "I, Too" (poem published in 1926) I, too, sing America. I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen. When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong.

  11. Poems about Music

    The weeping of the guitar…. " Listening " by Amy Lowell. 'T is you that are the music, not your song…. " A Violin at Dusk " by Lizette Woodworth Reese. Stumble to silence, all you uneasy things…. " My Harp " by John Rollin Ridge. Oh must I fling my harp aside…. " The Trumpet " by Edward Thomas. Rise up, rise up….

  12. 6.2: Music and Poetry

    Music and Poetry: Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen - Rock Poets. Musicians have been bringing poetry to a mass audience who might not listen to or read poetry. The ultimate synthesis between rock music and lyrics can be a tricky one. The two forms of expression must complement each other in some kind of balance. Most rock productions tend to lean ...

  13. Music and Modern Literature Literature And Popular Music

    SOURCE: "Dylan: Song Returns to Poetry," in Texas Quarterly, Vol. XIX, No. 4, Winter, 1976, pp. 131-36. [In the following essay, Lindstrom calls for a reevaluation of conventional thinking about ...

  14. 'My Music Is Words' by Lavelle Porter

    He was the subject of Robert Mugge's documentary Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise (1980) and has been written about in numerous essays and academic works. But Sun Ra also deserves recognition for his poetry and prose writings. "My music is words and my words are music," Sun Ra wrote in an essay for the Black Arts Movement journal The Cricket.

  15. The Connection Between Poetry and Music

    Music helps children develop rhythmic intelligence and notice rhythm in language, which are important skills in learning how to read and developing fluency as readers. In this lesson, students listen to poems read aloud, and they discuss the rhythm and sound of poetry. Students then perform poems using musical instruments to emphasize cadence.

  16. Skeptical Music: Essays on Modern Poetry

    David Bromwich. March 2001. 978-0226075617. Skeptical Music collects the essays on poetry that have made David Bromwich one of the most widely admired critics now writing. Both readers familiar with modern poetry and newcomers to poets like Marianne Moore and Hart Crane will relish this collection for its elegance and power of discernment.

  17. How Music Influences Poetry and Poets

    How Music Influences Poetry and Poets. Chris M. Arnone Apr 4, 2023. STARS AND SMOKE by Marie Lu. Winter Young is an international pop sensation whose star power has smashed records. Sydney Cossette is the youngest and most ambitious spy in her covert ops group. When a major crime boss invites Winter to perform a private concert for his daughter ...

  18. The Relationship Between Music and Poetry

    Music and poetry have a lot in common. The simplest and most obvious aspect of the relationship between poetry and songwriting is the way that both rely on rhythm, meter, rhyme, stress patterns, alliteration, and assonance to convey meaning. 2. Both music and poetry are forms of expression. They are both creative acts with the power to change ...

  19. Poetry and music are more closely related than we think

    From punk to poem-songs, the 2016 Poetry and Lyrics festival reveals how music fits into the poetic tradition Tue 7 Jun 2016 02.00 EDT Last modified on Thu 22 Feb 2018 09.34 EST Share

  20. 4 Differences Between Poetry and Music

    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 doesn't require singing vocals or instrumentation. Poets do not design their work around a melodic backdrop.

  21. Essays. On Poetry and Music, as They Affect the Mind. On Laughter, and

    Essays. On Poetry and Music, as They Affect the Mind. On Laughter, and Ludicrous Composition. On the Utility of Classical Learning. James Beattie. William Creech, 1776 - Classical education - 555 pages .

  22. Drink A Beer Poem Meaning: [Essay Example], 1088 words

    C. Discuss the influence of country music and its themes on the poem. Country music has long been a genre that embraces themes of love, loss, heartache, and redemption. Through its emotive lyrics and soul-stirring melodies, country music has the power to touch our hearts and speak to our deepest emotions in a way that is both cathartic and healing.

  23. Interview: Morgan Parker on 'You Get What You Pay For: Essays'

    Morgan Parker Says 'Poetry Is Under Everything' She Writes. Crafting the arguments in "You Get What You Pay For," her first essay collection, "felt like pulling apart a long piece of ...

  24. Opinion

    Private equity firms have poured billions of dollars into music, believing it to be a source of growing and reliable income. Investors spent $12 billion on music rights in just 2021 — more than ...

  25. Photo Essay: English Scholars Go to AWP Conference

    Photo. Bio. Michael Chapin '24 (he/him) is an English major from Atlanta, Georgia. Outside of being an Abbott Scholar, he is an avid runner, traveler and photographer, and in that vein, he serves as vice-president of Davidson's running club. He also serves as co-president of SIAD (Student Initiative for Academic Diversity) where he works to ...