SPOKEN WORD, POETRY, RAP

[Kaf]

To be honest, sometimes I get a little confused by these modern trends. The Spoken Word seems to be coming up so well, overtaking traditional poetry. However, I can barely tell the difference, between spoken word and poetry. Also, what is the relation of spoken word to rap music?

[Fairplay101]

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To be honest, sometimes I get a little confused by these modern trends. The Spoken Word seems to be coming up so well, overtaking traditional poetry. However, I can barely tell the difference, between spoken word and poetry. Also, what is the relation of spoken word to rap music?

@Kaf  As a poetry lover, this topic really resonates with me! Thanks for posting such a good subject to discuss! I think it's really easy to get confused by evolving art forms, so it's great to have a place to share ideas about different types of poetry!

I am of the mindset that these types of poetry are not actually in competition with each other.

Historically speaking, we have been using "spoken word" and songs very early on, as that was a method of retaining history and ancestors' stories; using rhyme and other sound devices is an interesting way to retain a lot of information. That is probably also why advertisers write rhyming jingles, because it makes it easier to remember their product. ha! I am not an expert, but poetry = song, and songs take many forms.

"Traditional" poetry is always evolving. Billy Collins, our Poet Laureate in the early 2000's, is a great contemporary example of a poet who successfully incorporated humor and accessibility in his work! While he is a modern poet, he still draws from tradition to create his art.

In my opinion, one form of the genre informs the next, so having new expressions of "song" and "poetry" and "story" is awesome because it really means that the poetry genre lives on. We still have traditional poetry, but we also now have even more amazing forms of this artistic expression.

I love spoken word also! It is wonderful to see the enthusiasm this poetic art form has produced in new generations. Poems are meant to be read aloud, and "spoken word" is a new way of experiencing a poem "out loud" and with a performance element.

It is also tremendously gratifying for an artist to receive immediate feedback on the poem he/she has performed and to share ideas and points of view with others. Poets and Rap artists like to give public readings and performances for the same reason.

I can definitely see a relationship between Rap music and Spoken word: Rap is a spoken poem set to music, and there are as many themes in rap as there are Rap artists. The same can be said of "spoken word," which is an oral performance of the poem's theme but it's not typically backed by musical instruments. Both of these forms can be entertaining and educational for the audience but are presented as different expressions.

I'm not sure if there are any yet, but it would be cool to see a Spoken Word poem made into a Rap musical presentation or vice versa. Then it would be easy to see how these two differ while also retaining some of the same traditional elements of poetry in terms of sound techniques.

I hope this is helpful in thinking about these different presentations of "poetry." Thanks again for posting such a great topic to discuss!