Songwriting lessons
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dante's inferno
Introduction Compared to a great poem, or the prose of a great novelist, most supposedly “great lyrics” don't measure up. With that in mind, I’ve collected a series of songwriting tips adapted from a genuine literary masterpiece: Dante Alighieri’s Inferno. This epic poem about one man's tour of Hell earned immediate fame in its day, and 700 years later it’s still read, translated, and studied all over the globe. As songwriters, what can we learn from Dante’s immortal work of art? I attempted to answer this question within one article, and quickly found the topic spiraling out of control. Inferno sets an inspiring standard that all writers can learn from—songwriters and lyricists included. Abandon hope, all ye who enter here…
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Table of Contents Introduction Sensory Images and Vivid Horror Write the Way You Speak Rhymes Should Sound Natural Structure Speeds the Descent How to Write Heart-Rending Dialogue
Click anywhere on the flying demon to discover whence this infernal ebook came.
Sensory Images and Vivid Horror In his timeless Inferno, Dante Alighieri uses sensory imagery to immerse us in visions of a dark underworld: the far-off wailing of the damned; the bubbling of a dark purple river of blood; the orange glow and steam of a superheated sarcophagus... just wait ‘til you get to the unfortunate chaps who’re being rolled around in the devil’s mouth… Reading Inferno doesn’t feel like a mere story; it feels like a journey into Hell. Dante creates amazingly vivid scenarios by incorporating horrific sights, sounds, sensations, and smells into his writing. Furthermore, Dante uses his skills to focus on images that emotionally impact the reader: the tears of two lovers tormented by a never-ending whirlwind. The
monstrously unnatural winged demon. A familiar face among the damned pleading Dante for news of his home city. Where appropriate, Dante uses simile to drive home some of Inferno's most haunting images. Have you ever seen a man carry his own head by the hair? No? You've probably seen a man carrying a lantern, though, right? That's how one sinner carries his own head, finding his way by pointing it in whatever direction he needs to see. Use sensory description to elicit a strong emotional reaction, and you’re writing lyrics that will move your listener and stick with them for years. Will your art survive—and even flourish—over the next seven centuries, as Dante’s did?
Write the way you speak Here’s one translator’s comment on Dante’s writing style in his Inferno: “…it seeks to avoid elegance simply for the sake of elegance. And overwhelmingly it is a spoken tongue.” –John Ciardi It's probably best to follow Dante's example and write in simple, straightforward language. If you construct your sentences to be overly ornate, decorous, or pretentious, you’re putting on airs that distance you from your audience.
Don’t be any more complex than the material requires! This holds equally true when writing prose, poetry, and song lyrics. Clarity is important in many forms of writing, but in song lyrics it’s paramount, because lyrics move by at a very fast rate. Nobody that I know of listens with one finger on the “pause” button—music is meant to be a continuous, uninterrupted rhythmic experience. Using simple, direct language gives your listeners the best possible chance of receiving and comprehending your lyric.
Rhymes Should Sound Natural
“I have not hesitated to use a deficient rhyme when the choice seemed to lie between forcing an exact rhyme and keeping the language more natural.� -Inferno translator John Ciardi
If you’ve been writing songs for a while, or if you’ve read a book about songwriting, you’ve likely heard this advice already: don’t force your rhymes. This holds true in both poetry and song lyrics—and apparently it also holds true for John Ciardi, who laboriously translated every line of Dante Alighieri’s Inferno from Italian to English. Of the two, Italian rhymes much more readily than English, containing lots of perfect rhymes. To clarify, a “perfect rhyme” is just a name for one type of sonic connection that can exist between syllables. Here are the criteria for a perfect rhyme:
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the vowel sounds of these syllables will be exactly the same, and
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any consonant sounds after the vowel will also match.
As an example, watch me ruin the following couplet by forcing an awkward perfect rhyme: He fooled around, and he got caught Another woman’s love he sought It rhymes, but it doesn't sound natural. You might say the first line in conversation, but that second line would earn you some funny looks. Even if you used the word “sought” for some reason, you wouldn’t reverse the order of a line that way. Here’s an imperfect rhyme that creates a much more natural-sounding line. I think it’s an improvement–and when we sing, we exaggerate vowels, so many listeners don’t even notice when we use imperfect rhymes in lyrics:
He fooled around, and he got caught It came to light and he took off‌ If an imperfect rhyme serves the song better, choose it over the less-potent perfect rhyme. Always.
Structure Speeds the Descent Dante’s thought tends to conclude at the end of each tercet… [which] clearly determines the “pace” of the writing; i.e., the rate at which it reveals itself to the reader. -Inferno translator John Ciardi We writers tend to conclude our thoughts at the ends of significant sections such as sentences, paragraphs, stanzas, or verses. Dante chose to write his masterpiece Inferno using three-line stanzas (tercets), and as John Ciardi points out above, this
gives Inferno its distinct pacing. The end of a stanza signals the end of a thought, and listeners can feel this underlying rhythm of ideas in a well-structured song. If you’re used to writing four or eight lines per stanza, try an unusual number: three, five, six, seven. This can also bring dramatic results when you add or subtract lines from a song that you’ve already been working on for a while. Try adding a line to every verse, augmenting the rhyme scheme. What happens? This is not just technical tinkering. Exploring different stanza lengths will prompt you to think and write differently: it will leverage you out of accustomed habits, force you to alter your usual rhyme schemes, and generally encourage you to write bold new material.
How to Write HeartRending Dialogue Dante's sensory details alone would have been enough to paint a believable picture of Hell. But the poet's brilliance didn't stop there—Dante humanized his Inferno by allowing the damned to speak. They crawl out of pits. They shout up from scalding sarcophagi. They emerge from a whirlwind of fellow ghosts. They recall love affairs and cry. They ask whether Dante has news of their home city. They wish aloud that they could see their families once more. They seethe at Dante's freedom to leave Hell.
These dialogues with the damned add human interest. By hearing these characters speak, we may feel pity for them and empathize with their suffering—or, depending on the character, we may even come to feel that we are glad they are suffering. The lowest circles of Dante's Hell host some... colorful individuals. Allow the characters in your songs to speak in their own voices. Let them vent their pains, their joys, their desires, their dilemmas. Let us sympathize with them or despise them—or experience a tense mixed reaction. This is a powerful way to capture the imaginations of your listeners. We humans are not just sensory beings; we also have highly developed social minds. Engage all of these faculties wherever you can—it'll make your songs feel real enough that we're elated or moved to tears. That's exactly what you want, isn't it?
In parting Thank you for reading my little ebook. Please feel free to e-mail copies of this ebook to friends and fellow songwriters! If you enjoyed this ebook, you may also enjoy the rest of my songwriting website, where I've written hundreds of free articles that'll help you write songs that you can be proud of. I also offer songwriting audio programs, music downloads, and more ebooks—like my one-month crash course, 31 Days to Better Songwriting. Write Songs! -Nicholas Tozier