SONG IN POETRY

SONG

                                                                                              

Written by:

ABD MALIK

(2090730008)

Introduction

In this paper I would like to write little about poetry especially about subtitle song which is related to the poetry. We know that song is very popular nowadays. Almost all people know song. Many kinds of song are spread all over the world. But in this paper I will explain related to the similarity to the poem.  According to the book,

some poets who were composers printed their work in madrigal books for others to set to music. In the seventeenth century, however poetry and song seem to have fallen away from each other. By the end of century, much new poetry, other than song for plays, was written to be printed and to be silently read. Poets who wrote popular songs were considered somewhat disreputable.

Some people think that to write poem and to travel about singing them, as many rock singer-composers now do, is a return to the venerable tradition of the troubadours, minstrels of the late Middle Ages. Song writers rarely create their lyrics to be read on the page. If the word seems rich and interesting in themselves, our enjoyment is only increased. Like most poems and song in the past, most current songs may end in the trash can of time.

Content

Song

1.      Singing and saying

Consequently, songs tend to be written in language simple enough to be understood on first hearing. But some contemporary song writers have created songs that require listeners to pay close and repeated attention to their words. For instance,

Round, round, the roof doth run;

And being ravished thus,

Come, I will drink a tun

To my propertius.                    By Herrick

The rime scheme of this song is a b a b; and it falls into stanza. The first and the third line rime and so do the second and forth. Most poems are more memorable than most ordinary speech, and when music is combined with poetry the result can be more memorable still. It is similar to the poetry which has rime and make enjoyable when listening to it.The differences between speech, poetry, and song may appear if we consider.

2.      Ballad

Any narrative song, like Paul Simon’s “Richard Cory,”( poetry book pg:631) may be called ballad. In English, some of the most ballads loosely define as anonymous story-song transmitted orally before they were ever written down.  A favorite pattern of ballad-makers is the so-called ballad stanza, four lines rimed a b c b, tending to fall into 8, 6, 8, and 6 syllables:

Clerk Saunders and Maid Margaret

Walked owre yon garden green

And deep and heavy was the love

That fell thir twa between.

Like a poem, this song also has rime which makes the sound interesting like poem.

3.      Blues

Among the many song forms to have shape the way poetry is written in English, no recent form has been more influential than the blues. Originally a type of folk music developed by black slaves in the South, blue song has both a distinctive form and tone. They traditionally consist of three-lines stanzas in which the first two identical lines are followed by a concluding riming third line.

To dream of muddy water-trouble is knocking at your door.

To dream of muddy water-trouble is knocking at your door.

Your man is sure to leave you and never return no more.

Early blues lyrics almost spoke of some sadness, pain or deprivation-often the loss of the loved one. The melancholy tone of the lyrics, however, is not only world-weary but also world-wise. The blues expound the hard-won wisdom of bitter life experience. They frequently create their special mood through down-to-earth, even gritty, imagery drawn from everyday life.

Bessie Smith (1898-1937) with Clarence Williams (1898-1965)

JAILHOUSE BLUES

Thirty days in jail with my back turned to the wall.

Thirty days in jail with my back turned to the wall.

Look here, Mister Jailkeeper, put another gal in my stall.

I don’t mind bein’ in jail but I go to stay here so long.

I don’t mind bein’ in jail but I go to stay here so long.

Well, ev’ry friend I had has done shook hands and gone.

You better stop your man from ticklin’ me under my chin.

You better stop your man from tickiln’ me under my chin.

‘cause if he keep on ticklin’ I’m sure gonna take him in.

Good mornin’ blues, blues how do you do?

Good mornin’ blues, blues how do you do?

Well, I just come here to have a few words with you.  

These are the lyrics of one of Bessie Smith’s earlier songs, based on the traditional folk blues. The rime and the form of these songs are similar to poem. But there are differences. A song joins words and music; a great song joins them inseparably. Although the words of a great song cannot stand on their own without their music, they are not invalidated as lyrics. Every stanza of it consist of three lines and rimes a a b as poet does. But in the blues, most the contain is about sadness and unhappiness.

Conclution

From the little explanation above, poetry and song were originally one art, and even today the two forms remain closely related. In a song the lyrics combine with music to create a collaborative total work, whereas in a poem, the author must create all the effect all alone. A song is no less powerful as a song just because the words don’t stand on their own as poetry. A song is meant to be sung-transposing song lyrics onto the page changes their function. But it cannot be delayed that they have similarities such as the lyrics, rime, and the refrain. Even sometimes a poetry is combined with music to make it memorable and interesting.

Reference

Willen G, Steinmenn M; literature for writing:2004; Second Edition. Wadsworth publishing company. California.