From Muhammad Ali to “Mama Said Knock You Out,” the outlooks of the boxer and the poet have often coincided. Rappers like to think of themselves as boxers — like prizefighters, they’ve got to keep proving

The immortal “Eleanor Rigby” is many things. It’s a riddle without an answer, a set of interlocking character sketches, a peerless exercise in songcraft, a brilliant integration of classically-inspired