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 * Types of Poetry **

Music of the Early 20th Century
 * Poetry In Music **

Gospel and jazz music are both legendary types of music but have both lost popularity since each of their founding in the early 1900s. Although not as popular today, both gospel music and jazz music have helped shape different types of music throughout the years and elements of them can still be found in music today. The call and response technique, imagery and different rhyme schemes appear in the poetry of gospel and jazz.

=Poetry In Gospel Music = Gospel music, which can be defined as music written to express spiritual beliefs, has been around since the 18th century. It often has dominant harmonic vocals, sometimes with a choir, and instruments like drums and the piano. An antiphon, more commonly called the call and response pattern, is often associated with gospel music where the lead singer sings and the choir responds to what the lead singer sings. This is a type of poetry that uses a phrase that contains the main message of the song and shows the point of view of the song. It helps repeat the message so that it can clearly be seen and the message can be delivered in a meaningful way. Antiphon’s stanzas alternate from short to long to short where the response-refrain part occurs in the short stanzas, carry a lyrical rhythm and can rhyme or not rhyme. Lots of times, the call and response method is used to help create an image of what is going on. Here is an example of lyrics by George Herbert of a gospel call and response psalm.

Let all the world in ev’ry corner sing, My God and King

The heav’ns are not too high, His praise may thither file: The earth is not too low, His praises there may grow.

Let all the world in ev’ry corner sing, My God and King

The church with psalms must shout, No doore can keep them out: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">But above all, the heart <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Must bear the longest part.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">In this song, the last words in first two lines of the repeated stanza rhyme with each other. In the longer stanza, the last words in the first and second lines rhyme and the last words in the third and fourth lines rhyme. This rhyming scheme helps the message of the song seem strong and important. The first stanza where the lead singer "calls" is short and the second stanza where the audience "responds" is longer.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">For more examples of gospel music click the link at the end of the page. Artists like Ray Charles and Elvis Presley both incorporated parts of gospel music into their “new” music, which helped create and develope rock and roll as well as other genres of music. As music began to change, artists used elements of gospel music in their new styles of music but traded in the spiritual lyrics with words of love and everyday topics.

=<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Poetry In Jazz = <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Jazz music has been around since the early 1920s and is still heard today. It is hard to define jazz music because there are many varieties. Often times trumpets, drums and stringed instruments make up a jazz band. One thing that all jazz includes is a special relationship to time and improvisation. A jazz artist goes outside of the box when singing to put his or her own personal twist and opinions in the music. Moods, personal experience, interactions with other musicians and members of the audience all influence how a jazz artist will perform. A rhythm section plays chords and rhythms that outline the song structure and complement the artist. The poetry in jazz includes using many images and many types of rhyme schemes because of the improvisation of the artist. Notice the rhyme scheme in the following poem:

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">"I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate" by Armond J. Piron

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I went to a dance with my sister Kate <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Everybody there thought she danced so great <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I realized a thing or two <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">When I got wise to something new

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">When I looked at Kate, she was in a trance <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">And then I knew it was in her dance <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">All the boys are going wild <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Over sister Katie’s style

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Jazz poetry, which is poetry that demonstrates jazz-like rhythm or the feel of improvisation, has influenced jazz music and lyrics used within jazz songs. Poets began to combine rhythm and jazz-like repetitive phrases to create this jazz poetry. The poetry in jazz music originally used repetition and improvisation to help artists and poets express themselves and prove their status as an artist. The last line of the first stanza rhymes with the last line of the second stanza and again with the third and fourth stanzas. In the next jazz poem, however, there appears to be no rhyme scheme.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Cabaret by Sterling Allen Brown

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Rich, flashy, puffy-faced, <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Hebrew and Anglo-Saxon, <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The overlords sprawl here with their glittering darlings. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The smoke curls thick, in the dimmed light <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Surreptitiously, deaf-mute waiters <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Flatter the grandees, Going easily over the rich carpets, <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Wary lest they kick over the bottles <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Under the tables.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Even though these poems have different rhyme schemes, they both portray a feeling of improvisation and lots of imagery, which satisfies the definition of jazz music.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Featured Video <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">media type="youtube" key="kmfeKUNDDYs" height="390" width="480"
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">﻿Louis Armstrong "Hello Dolly"

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Featured Artist <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Selected Audio <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">media type="file" key="Edited Come On Children 2.m4a" width="300" height="50". <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">media type="file" key="Edited Highway to Heaven.m4a" width="300" height="50" <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">media type="file" key="Edited Dream a Little Dream.m4a" width="300" height="50"
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">For information on the featured artist Louis Armstrong, click here.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">﻿For "Come On Children, Let's Sing" by Mahalia Jackson click below.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">For "It's a Highway to Heaven"by Thomas A. Dorsey click below.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">For "Dream a Little Dream" by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong click below.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">media type="file" key="Edited Cool Yule.m4a" width="300" height="50"
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">For "Cool Yule" by Louis Armstrong, click below.