G.A.I.M
GOTHEEQ THA SYKIK
Intro to Lyrics and Poetry So I'm sorry this took a while to get out, I've been trying to think of a good way to approach this subject as the more I probe it the more I find I have to say. Ergo, I will start with an introduction.Lyricism!
The poetic side of lyrics is tricky.The approach I'm going to try and put forth is going to be largely technical, we'll take a look at a lot of examples and try and understand what makes them good lyrics, this is obviously difficult- what are good lyrics? I suggest that "good" lyrics are lyrics that work and make the song better.They don't have to be Shakespeare but they should coherently and effectively express and idea that the audience might find
interesting. Good lyrics should support good composition.
In the lessons that follow we'll explore lyrics that I feel are "good" and we'll try and examine why. At the end of it all we might just learn how to write "good" lyrics
ourselves.To begin with, I want to discuss some of the basic elements of poetry and get some terms down so that we're all on the same page. important concepts (depending on the lyric some or all may apply):
Subject - who or what is the focus of your lyric? Is the it protagonist of a story, an abstract concept or
emotion, an event, etc?
Theme - what is the prevalent idea you are trying to express in your lyric?
Motif - a recurring idea that persists throughout the lyric Thesis - if your lyric is supposed to argue or prove a point, what is it?
Perspective - who is telling the story? who's ideas are we hearing -yours or a characters? Economy of Language - since your are the author of this work and it is totally original, in theory
we have a right to question why you chose one word over another. While this is certainly contestable, we may say that in a good work each element of the lyric is chosen deliberately and contributes to the total success of the work. You get away with a lot more in this department than poets because lyricists also have to make considerations that are purely based on how the lyric will sound.
You are accountable though. A good lyric should not include elements that detract from the work and a whole or are extraneous. Poetry is different from
lyricism. Many lyricists fail to realize this and write poems instead of lyrics without knowing. The difference is that lyrics are meant to be sung whereas poems are meant to be read. This makes lyricism a little more
constricting, as we discussed earlier, it means that lyrics must conform to certain rhythmic structures and should be singable. Lyrics are not independent of music! With all that said, lyrics and poems share a lot in terms of composition and form. One of the most important elements of poetry and lyricism is the poetic device. Poets and lyricists get away with a lot more than writers, the have poetic license" which qualifies them to write things that would otherwise be silly, incomprehensible, or just wrong. So you have an excuse to be creative.
Here are some poetic devices that will come up often in the lessons that come: Simile - a comparison that uses the word "like" or "as". Ex. "Love is like oxygen" Metaphor - a comparison that does not use the word "like" or "as". Ex: "Life is a carnival" Hyperbole - an exaggeration not meant to be taken literally. Ex: "I ate a horse" Alliteration - two or more successive words that begin with the same sound. Ex: "Helplessly hoping her harlequin hovers nearby". Alliteration is a great way to draw emphasis towards particular words or sounds. Onomatopoeia - a word that describes a sound. Ex: "Boom!" Rhyme - you know what rhyme is. The important takeaway here is that rhyme is a poetic device like all the rest. Rhyme is effective at making lyrics easy to sing but don't get suckered into compromising good poetry for rhyme. Internal rhyme - when a line itself contains a rhyme. Ex: "I say what I think that the company stinks / Yes I'm a union man." Internal rhyme is useful to draw attention to certain parts of your lyric and to ease flow midline.
I find it is particularly effective when the words follow each
other. Imagery - This is easily the most important poetic device but it's poorly titled. Imagery is a connection to a sense. Good imagery gives the listener a sensory impression of a scene or feeling. It doesn't have to be an image
because it doesn't have to be visual. We'll see a lot of examples of this coming up so rather than leave
you with one example of imagery here's a lyric that contains a little of everything and very powerful imagery.
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