Does anyone know of a particularly good poem to set to music?

The Ode To Joy from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony is a poem by Schiller.

“The Highwayman” by Alfred Noyes. Not short but a very rhythmic and lyrical poem.

This I can’t read it without it feeling like a song.

“So We’ll Go No More A-Roving.” Lyrics by Byron.

But if you’re interested in reading aloud something with plenty of verbal music, as opposed to a composed melody, try “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allen Poe. Try any of Poe, actually.

Ooops, sorry, I misread your question.

I don’t know if it counts, but this is fantastic.

A sad one but; Do not stand at my grave and weep by Mary Frye. A song that in my mind goes with it is this one please listen to this song if you happen to pass by this link as it is the most beautiful piece of music i know ^^

“The Lorelei” by Henreich Heine
“The Song of Wandering Angus” by W.B. Yeats

Each is very lyrical and could be set to music. Jeruba’s idea of “Annabel Lee” or another Poe poem is a good one.

The Tain is an epic poem the Decemberists wrote an 18min song for.

the linked clip is only part of it.

“Die Lorelei” has been set to music. It’s a very well-known tune. Unfortunately the English translations just don’t read as well as the German.

Red Right Hand by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

I don’t know if this is exactly what you are looking for but Ben Harper does a song called I’ll Rise from the poem by Maya Angelou “Still I Rise”. It is not short but it is a beautiful song and poem.

^Yeah sorry I shouldn’t have answered ^. I didn’t understand the question. Sorry!

There is, of course, “The Lake Isle of Innisfree” by Yeats. I’m sure it has been set to music before too, but it could be done again.

The Romantic poets produced a lot of short lyrics that might be good candidates for songs and for reading aloud musically. So did the Pre-Raphaelites. Here’s one I like:

When I Am Dead, My Dearest
by Christina Rossetti

When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant thou no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree:
Be the green grass above me
With showers and dewdrops wet;
And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget.

I shall not see the shadows,
I shall not feel the rain;
I shall not hear the nightingale
Sing on, as if in pain:
And dreaming through the twilight
That doth not rise nor set,
Haply I may remember,
And haply may forget.

Loreena McKennitt did a nice version of Yeats’ “The Stolen Child.”

Any Emily Dickinson poem can be sung to the tune of The Yellow Rose of Texas (so said my high school English teacher) Try it!

It works with lots of songs. I think it has to do with them all being in the very same, apparently popular, meter. Makes them very musical I would say.

I enjoy singing them to the tune of the hymn Oh God our Help in Ages Past, an old favorite. This is the text that I sing:

There’s a certain slant of light,
On winter afternoons,
That oppresses, like the weight
Of cathedral tunes

-Emily Dickinson

Maybe I shouldn’t share this information.