Songwriters and poets

[abu nuwas]

The English poet, Simon Armitage, when teaching, uses Bob Dylan as an example--- of what a poem should not be. He is, however, a great admirer of Dylan as a singer. It is as Billy says, largely a matter of not comparing like with like. What does a songwriter care about forced rhymes? Or rhyming the same word with itself, if he chooses? Yet poetry and song seem to have the same roots, and sometimes, poets seem to write with song in mind. There was a tradition in France where poets would also be song-writers, I think Jacques Prevert was like that.