We recognise in the finished art, which is the result of these conditions, the best words in the best order – poetry and to put this essential poetry into different classes is impossible. – John Drinkwater

Any long work in which poetry is persistent, be it epic or drama or narrative, is really a succession of separate poetic experiences governed into a related whole by an energy distinct from that which evoked them. – John Drinkwater

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