Danielle Wong : part five

How important is music to your poetry?

There is a strong relationship between music and poetry because they possess many of the same traits. They both have rhythm underlying the piece. They can stick to it for the most part, but escape it by speeding up or slowing down, or by changing the number of beats or syllables for a bit before returning to the starting rhythm. They stress specific beats and specific words. There is the element of crescendo, getting louder, and decrescendo, getting softer. Some poems, when read out loud, have words that sound so musical that it is hard to focus on the meaning; it is as if the words are adding to the music at music’s level. Some songs, when sung out loud, have lyrics so powerful they drown out the melody; they melody is there, but it is merely supporting the words. 

I listen to a lot of music. Some of it is purely instrumental. Some of it has lyrics. I have come across many songs with lyrics that I felt close to; I only understood why after I read the lyrics. When that happens, I end up reading the words over and over, and listening to the song on repeat. Over the years, I have admired many musicians for their ability to write meaningful poetry. I have found several songs where the music is overtly happy while the words evoke a lot of pain, but the words are hard to make out. The juxtaposition of opposites is a perfect reflection of someone who is experiencing depression, but who can mask it to the rest of the world. I love artistry like that. 

Sometimes I listen to music to help me write. I often I listen to calming, instrumental music. It helps me to relax, to drift off. It gives me the clarity I need to be able to put the words together. 

Occasionally, when I listen to music, I play a piece on repeat and focus on how the music is affecting me, what it reminds me of, what emotions it is stirring inside of me. The poem, or poems, that come from listening to the one song are the reactions I have to the melody or the reactions I have to the words. It is funny, though; it is never a reaction of both the music and the lyrics.

Although I don’t think of any kind of melody when I write poetry, I often do pay attention to elements of music with my ordering and choosing of the words. The placement of the words on the paper, the line breaks, the spaces between stanzas, are the musical rests that give the ear a break and the breath to catch up.