Many people ask about making songs out of their poetry. It can be done, and it has been done, but there are more differences between lyrics and poems than there are similarities.

If you’re thinking about poetry and how you might use it in song, you’ll want to understand the difference.

The similarities between poetry and lyrics are easy to see: Poetry and lyrics both attempt to reach their audience by creating emotional responses. This they try to do through the use of words that evoke strong images. They both use a certain cadence, accentuated with sounds of syllables and rhyme. And, both can benefit from the use of time honored literary devices like metaphor and simile.

The differences between poetry and lyrics might not be as obvious, but they are important.

Lyrics, unlike poems, are written to be presented along with music. 

That relationship with music makes lyrics less dependent on great depth of descriptive phrases that a poet might use to create an ambience. Lyrics get their ambience from the melody and the music that moves them forward. The lines of a poem aren’t bound to song structure. Where lyrics need to fit a melody, poetry doesn’t have that restriction. 

Lyrics are meant to be heard, where the lines in a poem are meant to be read.

Written words can be taken slowly, thought about deeply, and meanings that might not be obvious can sometimes come out after reading through various lines over and over again. In a song, the lyrics are carried past on the wings of the melody, and your listener won’t have the luxury of reading a line again. An exception of sorts is there in the chorus, which is usually repeated after verses, and which at times is just a line or two that repeats.

Poems can be any length and can easily explore very complex situations.

Without a length limit, there’s nothing a poem couldn’t cover. You could put the entire history of a nation into poem. But, song lyrics do have limits. Songs, and therefore song lyrics, need to be concise. of course, there’s not written rule that says a song can’t have as many verses as you want, but a 12 page song with 55 verses isn’t likely to be well received.

Think about what it is that most stands out to you about songs. Think about the way you communicate your memory of a song to someone else… When you think about that classic rock tune from Van Halen, and you want to remind someone else of it too, do you think about explaining the way the bridge leads to the chorus? The way the intro sweeps you into the progression?

Maybe. But, most likely, you remember the title first. “Jump”. Remember that? Or, “Panama”? Remember that? And how about “The Reason” by Hoobastank? I mention that one because I couldn’t remember the name of it for a long time and had a heck of a time trying to explain to people what song I was asking about. I finally found someone who was able to figure it out, and now I can get any thoughts I have about that song out to you easily… with the title.

So how does this help you to hang onto unfinished songs? Give them titles. Give them good titles and write them down. Keep a list of the titles to your unfinished songs and they won’t slip away.

Ideas can come from anywhere and at any time. But, sometimes we all feel like inspiration ran out on us and took the remote and the coffee maker on the way out the door. That’s when you should put aside your pen and paper and let somebody else entertain you. Yes. Quit trying to write long enough to be moved. Sit back, ease your mind, and take in a film or favorite T.V. show.

Entertainment is always about emotion. Music, film, dance, theater…  Any good movie or show will be filled with moments that make you feel. As you take in one of your old favorites – or even something new you’ve never seen before – pay attention to how you feel. Your inspiration can be found in any one of dozens of little moments when you find yourself feeling and interesting emotion.

Let’s say you’re watching a film and at one point the lead character has met a difficult challenge. As he stands alongside the road through the woods, you feel yourself filled up with emotion… you feel moved. You feel yourself filled with subdued joy, with a bit of anxiety for what the future may hold, and most of all you feel vindicated – just the character. There’s inspiration in that feeling, so take that and run with it. It’s simple from here.

Now, that doesn’t mean to sit down and write that guy’s story. Not at all. Put yourself on the side of that road filled with those emotions. How did you get there? How did that conflict get started? You use the feeling only, but build it up again using experiences form your own life, or that of friends and family, and make the idea truly your own.

You can draw on events from your past that gave you similar feelings. You can draw from memories of stories told to you by family and friends. You can create all new, imagined scenarios that would lead to the same deep feelings. The key is to take the feeling and bring it to life in your lyrics, to bring it to life in song.

When we listen to music, the basic structure of the song isn’t something we notice most of the time. Songs with a fairly standard structure of verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge and chorus just seem natural. In fact, we even begin to anticipate the next section based our experience listening to music.

We also expect some moment of realization… of achievement or completion, and those moments need a build up before we can understand we’ve met the goal.

Listeners expect a song to build to a climax. A climax can be thought of as an energy level. When energy goes up, anticipation rises and the listener is open to your most powerful moments in song. Failing to build to a climax, by maintaining the same energy level throughout, can disappoint some listeners.

Try to give them a different energy level during the bridge or in your last chorus. This helps the listener understand that he or she has gone on a journey with you, that you’ve achieved something together, and provides satisfaction and completion.

We just mentioned building your climax toward the end of your song. Don’t throw your most energetic chorus into your song first, because everything that follows will be anti-climactic… not at all what the listerner expects.

Throw your climax in too early and your listeners, expecting more, will be disappointed.