Lyric Poetry
“In the most common use of the term, a lyric is any fairly short poem,
consisting of the utterance by a single speaker, who expresses a state of mind
or a process of perception, thought and feeling. Many lyric speakers are
represented as musing in solitude.” (Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms )
the LYRIC GENRE encompasses:
the lyric poem [a speaker expresses a state of mind or a process of
perception, thought and feeling]
the personal lyric [the persona of the speaker is identified with the poet]
the sonnet [single stanza of 14 iambic pentameter lines]
the dramatic lyric [lyric speaker addresses an auditor in a specific situation]
the dramatic monologue [1. a single speaker, not the author, who utters the
entire poem in a specific situation at a critical moment 2. the speaker
addresses an auditor who never speaks but is manifestly present 3. the intent
of the poem is to reveal the speaker’s underlying motivation, temperament,
and character]
the elegy [“a formal and sustained lament in verse for the death of a particular
person, usually ending in a consolation” (Abrams 72)]
the ode [a long lyric poem – in either regular or irregular stanzas – in which
the speaker “expresses a sustained process of observation and meditation in
an attempt to resolve on emotional problem” (Abrams 147)]