In Between the Lines
“To be or not to be?”(William Shakespeare) or “She wears a dress to the tea like the letter.”(Dwayne Carter) These were two lines from two writers, from two different timelines. Poetry is very closely related to the songs being written these days in the 2000 era; both pieces written are from two different times, but the idea of their word playing is very much the same . The process of writing, the audience, and history of writers are things that hold songs and poetry together. The line between poetry and songwriting is a very thin one.
For a poet, the words being wrote are very smooth, poetic, and intelligently displayed. In order for people to read it like this, you need to first take into consideration the process. For advanced playwriting and novels, it requires great detail. Like writing dialogues and intense dramatic scenes, like ones from “Hamlet”, takes a lot of time, thought, editing, and finalizing. Another form of writing poetry is free-writing which is just writing poetry “Off the top of your head”, in simple poetry though, the writer can just sit there and write what they observe, what they feel, what they love, or what they hate. When they have found something interesting you want to write about you can then think about what kind of style you want to write about like a Limericks which is a 5-lined poem with a punch line, or a Sonnet which is to follow a strict rhyming scheme and specific structure of 14-lines.
When writing a song, in the correct genre, it also takes plenty of effort and structure. As time has gone by, technology has changed music, but the basics are still the same. An average hip-hop song consists of 16 lines (bars) and an 8 bar chorus. First you sing 16 bars, then comes the chorus, then another 16, then you repeat the chorus again, and then the last 16 bars. When singing you have to keep up with the tempo so, as a beginner you use a metronome (which ticks left to right and helps you keep cadence, or timing. A singer will need to be able to hit each word in each line, at a specific timing in order to present a good piece of work), but as you develop you will just be able to feel the music behind your words. Because of our technology, our editing system has changed, so a lot of singers sound more divine over the radio.
In both songs and poems if written by the right mind can sound deep and intelligent. A line from Edgar Allen Poe, “…but evil things, in robes and sorrow, assailed the monarchy’s high estates… ” sounded very deep and dark. In another line from current singer Dwayne Carter, as I mentioned in the beginning, “She wears a dress to the Tea, like the letter” was a very smartly written line.
The audience that poets have attracted has been poetry clubs, movies (Romeo and Juliet), Literacy Critics (Edgar Allen Poe), and columnists. People who appreciate the art of literature attend these events to be entertained by these words. Not to say that poetry hasn’t generated audiences, but now day’s people are more interested in music rather than poetry. Music/songs have attracted many audiences through the radio and concerts. A number of songs create a CD, and at least one of those songs should help the album stand out. In 2008, the radio station Kube 93 hosted its notorious “Summer Jam”. With around 65,000 people attending at roughly 9 dollars a seat (Prices varied as the seat came closer to the stage, where the music artists preformed), they produced a little over half a million dollars not including concessions, parking, etc. Even though there is a great amount of money to be made through the production of songs, the music industry is a very “Ify” business. Nothing is guaranteed.
Throughout history, there have been some great poets such as William Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, and Edgar Allen Poe. They were men who not only wrote poetry, but expanded their talent into other areas such as novelist, a poetic critic, or short stories. Shakespeare is a very well known poet for writing such plays as “Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and all the series of Henry”. Langston Hughes also wrote plays. He also wrote short stories and was a novelist. A famous line from Hughes was, “…I know rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins…My soul has grown deep like the rivers… ”
Some current writers are Marshall Mathers, Shawn Corey Carter, Dwayne Carter, and Curtis Jackson. All these artists are very talented but the difference is in they're desired success. Shaw Carter and Curtis Jackson have become extremely successful people. Shawn has taken small ownership in the New York Jets football team and he is president of Rocawear. Curtis Jackson signed a footwear contract with Reebok and is actively involved in Real Estate; both men are entrepreneurs. While those two men are artists and wealthy people, Dwayne and Marshall are the same. They have produced a lot of money and a name for themselves. But they have gotten to the certain point in their career, because they wish to be there. Marshall writes in a way that would be able to explain a specific episode in his life, and Dwayne writes in a very intelligent way.
Poetry and songs are very much closely related. Majority of people tend to focus on their current trends of music, songs ranging from country and jazz, to rock and R & B. But they should at least acknowledge the fact that some of their famous musicians are great fans of poetry and a lot of their work is inspired by it . Times have changed, but the wordplay hasn’t. The songs today are nothing more but manipulated poems with music in the background.
