Strange
thing about comparing creative productions is how to title them. Dancing as
appose to painting? Composing a symphony as appose to writing a novel?
Directing a play as apposed to recording a movie? It is hard to compare.
I
recently read or saw or was told about a poetry book. A songwriter wrote the
book or so that is what he is famous for. The question came when if any of the
pages contained lyrics instead of poetry. So what is the difference?
It
is like comparing ballet to hip-hop or an electric guitar solo to a country
western ballade or “Harry Potter” to “War and Peace”. There are so many
variables to different generations but the idea of expressing creative ideas is
the same.
So
I pondered the idea of poetry vs. lyrics. I am certainly not an expert on the
English language or the difference between prose or verse or any other method
of writing thoughts to express our ideas and feelings.
Poetry,
back from a time remembered, was to rhyme at every other line. Then the “beat”
poets came along and disrupted that idea of clean poetry. Poetry gave a story
with feeling.
Lyrics
were a story put to music. Before printing, minstrels would wander about
telling tales, some true, some not, to whoever would listen to their music.
So
are lyrics really poetry? Is dancing just painting with your feet? Is singing
the vocalization of reading?
