Does anyone know if there is a systematic method already defined to classify song (lyric) and tune structures? I learned about such things as Iambic Pentameters at school, but that is only part of the story. We should be able to describe a song as having verses with n lines, the structure of each line (where lines may be different) of, say n syllables, the accenting being on which of them, i.e. on every other, like 2/4 time, every third, like 3/4 or 6/8, and so on.

If such a method were in use, we could more easily compare songs, tunes, and match songs to tunes.

Note: I do know that there are various methods to extract common features from tunes, for matching purposes, the simplest being the 'Up/Down/Same' method, where each note is given one of the three codes relative to the previous note. In this format, Villikins & Dinah would start
S|SUU|SDD|SDD|U. This format could easily be derived by program from an abc file.