There have been a few instances where lines of Poetry have inspired a song or two inside me and with that in mind, I came a cross an Article written by songwriter Anna Dagmar called “Transforming Your Lyrics From Poetry To Personal Truth.”

She mentions at the beginning of the article after discovering that her lyrics had changed stylistically from her first album in 2001 to her latest album in 2012:

… when I began writing songs at about age twenty, I had a lot of emotions that wanted to come out somehow, but I was very shy about revealing myself too much. So, I turned to poetry. I turned to the world around me and looked for symbols or metaphors to describe the way I felt.

What grabbed me about the article were two things:

1. The eloquent way she deconstructs some of her lyrics to illustrate some of the points she makes

2. Her “Handful Of Tricks For Expanding Your Lyric Writing Process” list that she mentions halfway through the article

She ends the article with yet another piece of great advice, saying that lyricists should:

… read and write as often as possible. Be true to yourself, and don’t be afraid to share detail, whether about yourself or another person. Try to dig deeply to find ways of describing the world more eloquently than we do in daily conversation.

What I’ve found through my online research into all things songwriting, is that a lot of information is out there about the music, arrangement, collaboration and the business side of songwriting but not necessarily enough about the things lyricists have to go through to make themselves heard.

I hope that you find this information as helpful for you as it was for me. You can find the full article “Transforming Your Lyrics From Poetry To Personal Truth” here.

Until next time, keep on writing,

Corey Stewart
All About Songwriting