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What exactly is poetry?

For a long time I just thought it was anything that rhymed but have since discovered otherwise. Can there be real poetry in pop songs? Of course there can. You don’t have to look too hard to find words to rival those of Keats, Shelley or Donne. Think about the most poetic pop songs ever written and I wonder if, from hundreds of worthy contenders, you’ll also declare this one the winner. We’re almost too familiar with it now but try to listen as though it’s the first time you’ve ever heard it. I’ve always found it achingly poetic because it isn’t about romantic love. It’s a paean to truth, beauty and tortured genius. And best of all, in certain places, it rhymes.

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