Grant us the wil1 to fashion as we feel, Grant us the strength to labor as we know, Grant us the purpose, ribbed and edged with steel, To strike the blow.

It should here be added that poetry habitually takes the form of verse.

To take an analogy: if we say that a democratic government is the best kind of government, we mean that it most completely fulfills the highest function of a government - the realisation of the will of the people.

If it is an imperfect word, no external circumstance can heighten its value as poetry.

The written word is everything.

But in the finished art of the song the use of words has no connection with the use of words in poetry.

The musician - if he be a good one - finds his own perception prompted by the poet's perception, and he translates the expression of that perception from the terms of poetry into the terms of music.