Assignment 4 - Is Music Poetry?

1) Select 2 musical selections – one you consider to be poetry and one you do not. Please include a link to the song or a print sample of the lyrics.

2) Convince your audience that your opinion is valid. Why is one song a poem and the other is not?

I have selected "Hide and Seek" by Imogen Heap as my poet song and "My Money Ha Ha" by Merytal and Vybz Kartel for my non-poet song.

Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4OLQB7ON9w

My Money Ha Ha by Vybz Kartel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBU14YzCsdk

The song Hide and Seek is an extremely deep song. Listening to it once, you are able to identify the tone and possible situation as well as imagery through the descriptive lyrics; however, you cannot idenitfy its entire meaning until you dissect it line by line, word by word. There are several poetic lines that make you think long after you've heard the song "what could the song writer be saying or going through?" For example, "Oily marks appear on walls - Where pleasure moments hung before" and "The dust has only just begun to fall - Crop circles in the carpet - Sinking, Feeling" .

Now "My Money Ha Ha" on the other hand, consists of the same lyrics repeated over and over. The chorus is "My Money Ha ha, Mhmmmm , my money ha ha" . A little child with no education what so ever could have probably written something with more meaning. The song only talks about how much money he has and sharing it about. It is catchy and rhymes; however, you are not left wondering what the songwriter was talking about but more asking yourself "did someone really write a song about this?".


1) Is Rap/Hip-Hop music poetic expression? Why or Why not?

I believe Rap is poetic expression as rappers usually make comparisons with how they are feeling to other things. Also the rhythm that is brought about rapping is artistic.
Hip Hop on the other hand, is not entirely poetic expression, it has poetic elements but sometimes Hip Hop is just for entertainment and does not necessarily have expression or meaning.

2) What literary characteristics or poetic terms does this music express?

Rap and Hip Hop has tones - sometimes slow, long beats to express serious moods or fast, short lines to express 'surface feelings'. Metaphors and Similes are used for comparisons. A song is not a song without rhythm, which rap and hip hop definitely has.

3) What type of critic are you? Explain why.

I believe I am a Thematic critic because after listening to a song, I like to dissect each line so capture and identify its real meaning. Once, I think I've found the meaning, the song means something totally different from when I first heard it.


What poetic elements do you find in the lyrics below?
"Throwing out the wicked like God did the devil,/ funky like your grandpa's drawers, don't test me,/we're in like that, you're dead like Presley." - Q-Tip on “Steve Biko”, Midnight Marauders - Similes and rhymes are in these lyrics

"Like Slick Rick the Ruler I'm cooler than a ice brick,/ got soul like those afro picks, with the black fist, and leave a crowd dripping like John the Baptist," - Black Thought on “Mellow My Man”, Do You Want More?!??!!!
- Slick Rick is asonance and consonance (rhymes).

“See, I drop the greats like clumsy waiters drop plates." - Mr. Man on “Fortified Live”, Fortified Live
- Similes


"RRRRROAW RRRROAW like a dungeon dragon,/ change your little drawers because your pants are saggin'." - Busta Rhymes on “Scenario”, Low End Theory
- This lyric has alliteration [Roaw Roaw]

“I treat this like my thesis/ well-written conflict broken down in to pieces. I introduce and produce words so confused.” – Lauryn Hill on “Final Hour”, Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

- Introduce and produce are consonance.

Assignment 3 - Poetry - Image Writing Exercise

Good Day Reader(s)

Today's blog post is about 3 different poems by 3 different poets.

Poems (located in textbook):

1 – Dylan Thomas – "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night"

2 – Gwendolyn Brooks – "We Real Cool"

3 – Emily Dickinson – "I felt a Funeral, in my Brain"

1) What emotions/feelings do you have after reading the poem?

2) How does your chosen image reflect the emotions conjured by the poem? Compose a one paragraph response for each poem.

1 - "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night" - Dylan Thomas

Photo from: http://www.adobenerds.com/tutorial/photoshop-animated-moon-light-sky-tree/Animeted-Moon-Light.gif

After reading "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night", I felt a sense of warning or caution. The 'speaker' in the poem sounded like he feared something in the night and was warning someone to be careful and telling why the night or darkness is not good. Therefore the emotions I feel are 'fear','cautious' and 'hatred' towards the night. The picture I chose looks like a sun in the night, as the moon is so bright. The clouds in the background adds a sense of 'eerie-ness' which brings a sense of fear because it looks spooky.

2- "We Real Cool" - Gwendolyn Brooks

Photo from: http://cdn.costumesupercenter.com/csc_inc/images/items/343x432/CC01002.jpg

"We Real Cool", despite its length, compelled a sense of rebellion. To me, it sounds like girls at a strict school are rebelling against uniformity and the system. It also made me feel fearless and free. "We Jazz June" makes me think of swing dancing or a laid back club scene, and "We Die Soon" sounded fearless as they knew they would die soon maybe because of their lifestyle, but they accepted that and didn't care. I chose the image of the school girl wearing a leather jacket and boots, etc. because I think it is an accurate example of the 'rebel school girl' look, she put her spin on the school uniform which is probably prohibited and wore something a 'biker chick' would wear, which shows she has no concern to abide by the rules.

3- "I Felt a Funeral in my Brain" - Emily Dickenson

Photo from: http://www.indianetzone.com/photos_gallery/1/120_Migraine_Headache.jpg

When I read this poem, it makes me feel that Emily Dickenson had a terrible headache or migrane. When I get a headache, it feels like there is constant throbbing - kind of like the beating of a drum. And when I feel like that, its as if I cannot think or do anything "My Mind was going numb" (line 8). Also it was as if this pain was taking over her whole body, like the headache brought on other bodily aches "And I dropped down, and down" (line 18) - the pain was so bad she could not walk. Usually when I get a headache, I feel disabled and paralized as I cannot think straight or do anything that involves any concentrating, even driving is a struggle. A feeling of mourning my health comes to mind when I think of funeral in my brain.

From another view, it sounded like she had multiple personalities -schezophrenic- and that one of them 'died' for some reason. In this case, "mental case" or "psyco" comes to mind.

I chose the image of a woman rubbing her temples because it represent both someone having a terrible headache or someone trying to understand what was going on in their head.

- The End -