Are songs and poems on-topic?

Question

This question arose from this answer.

It can be argued that songs and poems can be considered literature. Heck, Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize for Literature for his songwriting. I wouldn't say that Dylan's work qualifies as literature for the purposes of this site, but I think that a lot of older works in the style of epic poems could fit. The best examples I can think of are certain old Norse sagas.

So, are poems - specifically epic poems - on-topic on Literature Stack Exchange? If so, what about the boundary between songs and poems?

---

I've asked a test question: In "Bullet the Blue Sky", what is the symbolism of Jacob and the angel?.

Answer 1

Poems should be on-topic without further qualification. For hundreds of years, poetry was nearly the only type of literature produced, and some of the greatest works of literature are poems.

I favor allowing questions about songs as long as they are literary questions. Questions about word choice, symbolism, historical context, or narrative structure of a song should be allowed, but as soon as you get into the musical aspects of the song, it should probably go to Music Fans. (And if we do end up allowing identification questions, I'll fight to the death against allowing "identify this song".)

Basically, if you could ask the same question about a poem, I think it should be on-topic, but questions specific to the musical aspects of a song should go to Music Fans.

Answer 2

I think we can agree that poems and ballads are literature and songs are as well. Which answers the question, if they should be on-topic here. Lyric poetry is the beginning of all literature, when the bards and poets sung their songs to the kings and queens. It too, is a huge part in modern literature. I am already thrilled to discuss about songs like 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' or 'Lose Yourself'.

In addition: non-lyrics questions about songs should be off-topic.

Since even Bob Dylan has won a Nobel Prize for his music.
Stephen Sondheim won the Pulitzer prize for the musical Sunday in the park with George.

Answer 3

TL;DR - On-topic

I think we can look to some of sister sites to help formulate our "policy" here as the same issue has been brought up before.

---

First, on English Language and Usage song lyrics are not out-right off-topic but come under some scrutiny. On their meta we find the following

If the question is about the grammaticality of line of poetry or what the metaphor is supposed to be, then that's OK. If it is about the cultural relevance of the item than that's off-topic. _Source

I agree with that sentiment. While here on Literature we may not deal with grammar we certainly deal with metaphors and meanings. In addition, "General Reference" is no longer a close reason, so this would allow what might be considered "trivia questions" to be on topic as well. However, this should not prevent poorly researched questions from being down-voted.

---

Next, on Music Fans song lyrics are on-topic from what I can gather. They are also a newer site (older than Literature, but still in Beta) and still growing and learning as Literature is. On their meta we see the following discussion on lyrics:

First I think we have to realize that the meaning of lyrics may have multiple interpretations especially to different people. We should seek answers that are either:

1. Interpretations from the person who wrote the lyrics.
2. Commonly accepted interpretations.

The first should be preferred over the second, but lyricists sometimes don't explain their lyrics at all. In either case though a source should be required to keep the answers from just being personal interpretations which there could be infinite. _Source

I also agree with this answer as we should try to find if the original author has commented on the issue, but if not other forms of literary analysis are obviously fine. Since Stack Exchange is a site for "experts" we should tailor our answers in that format.

---

Overall, I feel that the site will self regulate and that good questions and good answers will always rise to the top. Experienced users know how to identify the difference between a good and bad question and should respond accordingly, whether that be down-votes or closure.

Even if lyrics are on-topic they need to be formatted in a way that will not make them "Too Broad" or "Primarily Opinion Based".

_{(Full disclosure, I am a member but not highly active on ELU, and not a member on Music)}

Answer 4

Yes, but it's especially important to avoid speculation for these types of questions.

I've seen discussion forums where questions on song meaning just descended into "Well I think this means x...", "I think that this means Y...", etc. As is the case elsewhere on the site, answers should be justified with concrete facts (rather than just speculation or personal opinion). I think that it's very important that we avoid that here. (I think that, overall, we've already been doing a good job with that elsewhere on the site, though - it's important to avoid broken windows when introducing a new category of questions, though).

In fact, if we keep standards good for these questions, it could be a major value-add for this site over existing discussion forums - it seems like there's a dearth of quality information on song lyrics and if we could help fill that gap it could actually become a draw for the site.

One thing that's unique about interpreting songs: the song title, music, and performance are part of interpreting the song meaning. Yes, this is a literature site, but you can't really divorce the song lyrics from the music - that's like saying that we can't discuss the artwork in a graphic novel or comic book because it's not part of the actual words. The music is just as much part of the literature of a song as the illustrations and drawings are part of the literature of a graphic novel.