I run a literary magazine and personally manage the poetry area of it, so I am very much immersed in poetry. The media tells us occasionally that "poetry is dead" and nobody reads poetry any more. How can they say that with how wildly popular music is? There are some *amazing* poems that we sing along to, know every word of, that are multi layered and beautiful. Not only that, but the poets had to make them musical and not just readable! So it's an entirely higher level of poetry, in a way.

Simon and Garfunkel come to mind as amazing poets who wrote some beautiful works.

Do people consider music to be poetry?

Certainly I do.

When I was home educating my son, he was writing lots of lytiocs for his band and I submitted them to the inspector as poetry ~ ie English literature.

I admit that some lyrics probably don't count as "high poetry" - "we all live in a yellow submarine!" But then that gets into claiming some poetry is "real" poetry and some is "not real" poetry, which is one of those distinctions we were talking about elsewhere Is it any worse than

Candy is Dandy
but Liquor is Quicker

?

I am the Eggman! I am the Walrus! Kookoo koo choo!

I guess that makes as much delightful nonsense as The Jabberwocky, which is indeed literature.

That's a wonderful comparison, Jilly! Indeed, many great authors made up words.

Shoo be do wop wop!

I think depends if it's spoken with rhythm or just recited. I wouldn't consider reciting shakespeare music, but someone like gil scott heron using rhythm and soul I would consider music. If it has a time signature i'd consider it music.

I bet there have been people who have set Shakespeare to music. That's an interesting thought, I'm going to go do some searching!

the raven by alan parsons near enough?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSQz_LQ6Kak

or how about christy's version of the ballad of wandering aengus?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-VL41H2Sm0

i've got dozens of these, but no shakespeare springs to mind.

Aha!! This combines a bunch of threads!!

Singing a Shakespeare Sonnet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJKlQbMx9Xg