Lyric Poetry: Key Features and Forms
Lyric Poetry: Main Features
Lyric poetry is a broad and varied genre characterized by its intensive use of the poetic function of language. It expresses emotion, feelings, imaginations, and personal experiences, serving as a vehicle for privacy, subjective changes, allusion, and connotation.
Key Characteristics of Lyric Poetry
1. Emotion and Immediacy
Lyric poetry expresses the feelings and emotions of its creator. The underlying sentiments are recognized directly and immediately by the receiver, who may be attracted or repelled by these feelings. This gives lyric poetry a sense of universality, and the expression of feelings can entail a “purification.”
2. Absence of a Narrative
Unlike narrative and dramatic theater, lyric poetry typically lacks a history or a conflicting combination of characters, time, and space. A sequence of actions is absent unless the poet uses it to support their theme. The creator seems immobilized, focusing on the mystery surrounding people and things.
3. Focus on a Single Theme
The poet is not interested in developing several extended events but rather focuses on a single issue with many aspects.
4. Emphasis on the Poetic Function of Language
The poetic function of language prevails in lyric poetry, emphasizing sound, word choice, and other elements. Prayers acquire aesthetic value in themselves, for their phonic, rhythmic, or connotative virtues, evoking a reality beyond the literal.
5. Verse as a Common Feature
While not a strict requirement, verse is a common feature of lyric poetry. The prose poem demonstrates that a poet can dispense with meter, though most lyric texts have a more or less regulated verse form.
6. Truth vs. Fiction in Lyric Poetry
The Romantics equated the lyrical “I” with the poet’s biography, arguing that lyrics express a deep truth. However, many modern theorists believe the “I” in lyric poetry is fictitious. More recently, some critics argue that the biographical “I” reflects an extra-textual story.
7. The Origin of the Term “Lyric”
As Rafael Lapesa notes, the name “lyric” comes from the Greek practice of reciting poetry to the accompaniment of a lyre, zither, or flute. In its simplest form, it evolved into song. In its more complex and personal form, lyric poetry lost its musical character, reserved for recitation or silent reading.
Main Poetic Forms
- The Hymn: A solemn composition for singing, expressing religious sentiments, patriotism, etc., of a community.
- The Song: Love poems with an intimate tone.
- The Ode: A canto of praise with a varied, individualized theme, not intended to reach the solemn nature of the hymn.
- The Eclogue: An amorous dialogue between pastoralists, creating an idyllic atmosphere where a displeasing reality is hidden.
- The Elegy: The expression of pain for an individual or collective misfortune, aiming to move the audience and invite reflection or comfort.
- Epigram: Originally an inscription on a tomb or monument, later extended to other matters, often with satirical wit.
- Epistle: The author addresses a real or imaginary person to moralize, educate, or satirize.
- Satire: Compassionate censure of faults or defects, individual or collective.