Arctic Monkeys are poets

Description:

When they came on to the music scene in 2006, their album Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not became the fastest-selling debut of all-time.  However it now seems that the Arctic Monkeys have been acclaimed as poets, by no less a judge than the Poet Laureate herself.

When asked this week if any modern artists bridged the gap between Cohen, Dylan and John Lennon, Carol Ann Duffy did not hesitate to name the group.

Having a Poet Laureate praise modern rock is not new. Poet Laureate Andrew Motion said in 2007 that  Bob Dylan’s lyrics could “turn teenagers on to the full range of poetry”. He said the folk singer’s words are part of a “spectrum of poetry that has formal, orthodox verse at one end, song lyrics at the other”. He then went on to praise Dylan as “the heir to several great traditions as well as an artist speaking about recognisably modern times”. Dylan is the apogee of the rock/poetry fusion; as the young Robert Zimmerman he changed his name to Bob Dylan in honour of the Welsh bard, Dylan Thomas.

Is Carol Ann Duffy right when she likens rock groups lyrics to modern poetry? Are people experiencing poetry as much or more than they ever did, but through the medium of pop music?

So who are the modern poets of rock? Those in the know are citing Morrissey of The Smiths and, to a lesser extent, Pete Doherty, the former Dorset schoolboy who won a national poetry competition at the age of 16.  Also a website called Rock Jukebox believes Don MacLean’s Vincent should be considered for lines such as “Flaming flowers that brightly blaze Swirling clouds in violet haze”, and Bruce Springsteen for Born to Run, which starts with the lines “In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway American dream. At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines”.

The Poetryandlyricsofrock blog contributors like In the White Room, performed by Cream but written by poet Pete Brown, and also the classic Waterloo Sunset by Ray Davies. All very good contenders.

Lets us know your favourite lyrics. Join as a member and start blogging. It's easy.