You’ve probably heard of the proposal that song lyrics are poetry, thought “Yeah, I guess I can see that,” and then moved on with your day. I, on the other hand, have always felt like that comparison was too shallow. So today, I want to briefly examine their similarities and differences. In what ways can lyrics be considered poetry, and where do they differ?

The two have a shared history in Ancient Greece in the form of lyric poetry, poems that would be sung to music and played on instruments such as the lyre. The terms verse and chorus for song lyrics also came from here. In the modern day, they still share several technicalities; both usually have a structure consisting of several lines grouped together (verses and stanzas). They often rhyme, have the potential to tell a story, and use a variety of literary devices, including but not limited to simile, metaphor, imagery, symbolism, and especially repetition. I say “usually” and “often” because they are both very flexible forms and don’t always abide by their own “rules.”

Their biggest difference lies in their medium and function. Poems are a written medium, while song lyrics exist in the auditory world. This may seem obvious, but it has a big impact on how they are created and experienced. For example, the words of a poem are visible, so the reader can go through the work at their own pace, go back at any point, and linger on a certain spot. The poet is free, maybe even encouraged, to indulge in esoteric word choice because of its temporal permanence on the page. On the other hand, lyrics run at the song’s pace from start to finish, so there’s not the same level of freedom if the songwriter wishes to be immediately comprehensible. Lyrics are also melodic, a quality that separates it from spoken word poetry, which focuses more on intonation and usually doesn’t involve singing. Even when stripping away all other instruments, the melody and how lyrics are sung has a bigger effect on the meaning of words, whereas the delivery of a poem is more up to the speaker’s interpretation.

While song lyrics can be considered a form of poetry, it’s not the best way to think about it. It seems like another reason for the comparison is because poetry carries with it an air of respectability as a high art form, and something can only be considered legitimate, serious, or worthy when it has that label attached to it. But song lyrics are a separate art form with its own conventions, able to stand by itself. So why don’t we try evaluating it within its unique context instead of needing to equate it to something else first?

– Khanh Le