Music to Our Days Poetry #2

Reading poetry might be difficult, but we listen to poetry every day, in the form of music. Country music is known for its ballads. Perhaps you prefer hymns. Rock and folk music are poems, too: they have rhythm and they have rhyme. And some of them you can dance to!

A generation or two before me listened to Dylan Thomas. Dylan Thomas, published in the fifties, was known for poems about love and death. We deal with love and death every day. Poets have the ability to make the everyday exceptional. “Rage against the dying of the light,” he says. We could just say, “Don’t give up,” but Dylan Thomas’s line has much more passion, doesn’t it?

Poetry sometimes seeps into our souls without us realizing it. Bits and snatches come to mind. “You take the high road and I’ll take the low road” is a lyric from a Scottish folk song called “Loch Lomond.” It is a pretty song, though sad, but even though we no longer think in terms of high roads and low roads, the phrase sticks with us, and we sometimes use it in conversation.

The tunes often stick with us, as well. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound.” You can probably sing that line, even if you don’t know the rest of the song. “Rock of Ages, cleft for me” is another one. Many people know various Christmas carols, which are poetry about a specific topic.

What song is stuck in your head right now? Poetry gives music to our days.