One of Wordsworth’s shorter verses.
I Travelled among Unknown Men by William Wordsworth
I travelled among unknown men,In lands beyond the sea;Nor, England! did I know till thenWhat love I bore to thee.‘Tis past, that melancholy dream!Nor will I quit thy shoreA second time; for still I seemTo love thee more and more.Among thy mountains did I feelThe joy of my desire;And she I cherished turned her wheelBeside an English fire.Thy mornings showed, thy nights concealed,The bowers where Lucy played;And thine too is the last green fieldThat Lucy’s eyes surveyed.
I think on the whole rhyming verse has fallen heavily out of favour, its interesting to go back and read more traditional styles. Do you think rhyme has fallen out of favour somewhat and if so why do you think?
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Oh, it definitely has. I think the biggest factory is modernism + post modernism. There was just such a big push to do things different and try new styles. It opened to the door to not having to be traditional.
Also, it’s really hard to do! It’s so easy to be bad when rhyming, that, in my opinion, it actually takes more skill to do traditional styles.
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Yeah, I think you have a point. Writing something in traditional styles that doesn’t sound horribly cliche is very difficult. Also, a lot of the development in rhyme has now translated into hip hop; there are a few legitimately incredible lyricists in that world, some who use the poetic devices of the traditionalist poets and have expanded upon them or the ways they’re used.
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Who would you say some of those lyricists are?
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I think Aesop Rock is a great place to start. I feel like I may have pimped his words to you or someone else in a similar situation before though… Apologies if I’m repeating myself. I’ll share a piece of one of my favourite verses. It’s not as dense as some of his work, which often takes lots of listens to start putting together conceptually.
There’s smoke in my iris
but I painted a sunny day on the insides of my eyelids
so I’m ready now (what you ready for?)
I’m ready for life in this city and my wings have grown almost enough to lift me
I’m a dinosaur with Jones Beach in my hourglass
passing the time with serial killer colouring books and bags of marbles – Battery Aesop Rock
He also wrote maybe my favourite few lines I’ve ever come across; ‘October ended with a single feather funnelling its way to muddy earth in front of funny sparrows copycatting, eventually it would select and circle one as if to crown the victim of a loss I wasn’t comprehending.’
Anyway, I love poems and lyrics, prose in general, and could talk about them forever. But, still, sorry for leaving you a massive comment full of quotes… Is there anyone you look to in the music world for quality in writing?
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Oh this is embarrassing, but no not really.
In my adolescent years I went through a phase where I loved The Kooks, but acknowledged that the lyrics weren’t always the most clever.
I should probably pay more attention, but most of the lyrics I enjoy are clever and not necessarily poetic.
I love a lot of Hank William Sr. songs for the cleverness.
Others I tend to enjoy the lyrics to are John Mayor’s ‘Vultures,’ The Drifters ‘Up on the Roof,’ Pete Yorn’s ‘Strange Condition,’ and Bee Gees ‘I Started a Joke.’
So, I’ve also been really into 50s music lately and Frankie Vallie and The Four Seasons have some killer lyrics as well as The Everly Brothers.
I’ve never been much into rap, so I can’t really compare to your example. I do know all the lyrics to Gangsters Paradise, but I’ll go ahead and veto that from being considered poetic.
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I think a lot of people look for different things in song lyrics, often we allow things in songs that would make us cringe in prose but they are different mediums with different nuances and emphasis.
I’ve enjoyed Hank Williams when I’ve listened and know some of Frankie Vallie’s stuff but never considered it in terms of lyrics.
And pah, I reckon Gangsta’s paradise is alright 😛 I mean, sure, it’s no Aes Rock or Sylvia Plath but it’s also no SixNine.
Have you read any Bukowski? I wonder what you’d make of his style, which is neither lyrical not poetic but which is still certainly poetry…
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I’ve read very little of Bukowski. From what I’ve read I don’t hate it. But my taste in poetry isn’t much like my taste in music. Seamus Heaney has some weird lines of poetry that I don’t really think of as lyrical or poetic, but grabs my attention and brings me back to it.
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I loved Wordsworth’s work. ‘Loved’ in that I haven’t read his work since college. I wrote a paper on Wordsworth and his works for my Lit class. I have been telling myself I need to go back and read some of his and his contemporaries work again. This just gave me the impetus to do that. Thanks.
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I’m glad. I haven’t read him since college either, but that wasn’t so long ago. Still, I’m always tempted to reread The Prelude.
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