Editing Lyrics (section)

==Poems==
{{Original research|section|date=March 2008}}

The differences between [[poem]] and [[song]] may become less meaningful where verse is set to [[music]], to the point that any distinction becomes untenable. This is perhaps recognised in the way popular songs have ''lyrics''.

However, the verse may pre-date its [[Melody|tune]] (in the way that "[[Rule Britannia]]" was set to music, and "[[And did those feet in ancient time]]" has become the hymn "Jerusalem"), or the tune may be lost over time but the words survive, matched by a number of different tunes (this is particularly common with [[hymn]]s and [[ballad]]s).

Possible classifications proliferate (under [[anthem]], [[ballad]], [[blues]], [[Carol (music)|carol]], [[folk song]], [[hymn]], [[libretto]], [[lied]], [[lullaby]], [[March (music)|march]], [[praise song]], [[round (music)|round]], [[spiritual (music)|spiritual]]). [[Nursery rhymes]] may be songs, or [[doggerel]]: the term does not imply a distinction. The [[ghazal]] is a sung form that is considered primarily poetic. See also [[rapping]], [[roots of hip hop music]].

Analogously, verse [[drama]] might normally be judged (at its best) as [[poetry]], but not consisting of poems (see [[dramatic verse]]).

In Baroque music, melodies and their lyrics were prose. Rather than paired lines they consist of rhetorical sentences or paragraphs consisting of an opening gesture, an amplification (often featuring [[sequence (music)|sequence]]), and a close (featuring a [[cadence (music)|cadence]]); in German ''Vordersatz''-''[[Fortspinnung]]''-''Epilog''.<ref>Kelly, Thomas Forest (2011). ''Early Music: A Very Short Introduction'', p.53. {{ISBN|978-0-19-973076-6}}.</ref> For example:
 ''When I was a child,''                                  [opening gesture]
 ''I spoke as a child,''                                  [amplification...]
 ''I understood as a child,''                             [...]
 ''I thought as a child;''                                [...]
 ''But when I became a man, I put away childish things.'' [close]
 ''- 1 Corinthians 13:11''