Say you are writing a piece called Cull and you want it to canvas the subject of culling. If you write an essay or assignment, you would have data and references that supported an argument of how much culling already takes place, whether bear culls or kangaroo culls compare with shark culls. In order to construct any kind of case you want facts and figures and careful comparisons.

The song and poem are at considerably more liberty and they do share this with the prose sketch.

Cull

You can see where we’ve taken them out; the last remnants of co-opted habitat. It’s because of the big teeth or the aggression, mixed in with unpredictability. There’s all kinds of primal fears driving our impulse to strike first. Or react to one death inflicted by their kind with many slaughters of our own.

Even a magazine article would find some appeal to authority necessary. This form has no such requirement.

Neither does song

Cull

Be they red of tooth and claw

As long as there’s a law

We can cut their numbers

 

Be they large or plentiful

Spare the rare and beautiful

From the cull

 

Accidents happen when you’re out to see

A part of the forest you can run free