Music and poetry go together well, as in Frontera's song. In fact, music is where poetry got its start! Even the word lyric is a reminder that early poets sang their verses while playing a small harp called a lyre. Today, a lyric poem is one in which the speaker explores a topic that’s important to the poet. A key idea in Frontera's lyrics, as you heard, is the longing for home.
Even poems that are not set to tunes have a kind of music to them. Poets work hard to make their words rhythmic and ear-catching. Watch this short video for a refresher on how and why they do it.
Poetry is the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken for exciting pleasure through beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts. One can make a solid argument that hip-hop music is a kind of poetry. The way many of the songs are arranged is poetic in nature.
There are certain components of a poem. The first is form. This is how a poem is written, what the poem looks like, and where the divisions are. Next is the speaker. We must be careful not to assume that the speaker in the poem is the author of the poem. Authors often take on a certain persona in order to communicate the message and tone of the poem. With every poem there are literary devices which help to convey the message of the author. This message is usually delivered with feelings or emotions, which is another component of poetry. Writing poetry is all about making choices. An author goes to great lengths to choose specific words, a specific structure, and a specific tone for his or her poem.
Because poetry has such a loose definition and can encompass many different forms of writing, you might find yourself forming your own definition of poetry. You may even find that you are a poet and you didn’t even know it.
Question
Reread these lines from Frontera's song.
I long for not places, not faces, but traces of maybe my home But I'm never there anymore
Think about how Frontera uses "the art of rhythmical composition" in the lyrics for "Puerto Rico." What emotions do her carefully chosen words bring out?
