In general, this course explores the constitutive elements, motifs, and variants in the trajectory of poetry written in English and how it contributes to contemporary music, particularly the writing of the lyrics. In this effort, the course will also discuss the musical features inherent in poetry as well as the poetic in music. It will particularly look into representative songs--the classics of modern popular music, so to speak--as well as more recent developments, especially in the tradition of the Spoken Word and new/anti-folk music. During the semester, students will also work on writing academic papers on the poetic in music or music in poetry as well as on writing original musical/poetic works.