Forms Of Lyric Poetry

Lyric poetry It is a form of poetry that does not attempt to tell a story, as do epic poetry and dramatic poetry, but is of a more personal nature instead. Rather than portraying characters and actions, the lyric poet addresses the reader directly, portraying his or her own feelings, states of mind, and perceptions.

Although its name, from the word lyre, implies that it is meant to be sung, this is not always the case; much lyric poetry is purely meant to be read.

Forms of Lyric Poetry

A hymn is a poem written to be sung. The lyric is sung by a single voice while the choric is sung the the chorus.

The ode was first used to honor winners of the Olympic Games. Its purpose is to reverse heroes or objects of idolatry. It is written in a balanced stanzaic patterns of quatrains or four-line poems.

A elegy is a formal poem of three parts: lament, the question and complaint, and the philosophical conclusion. It is a poem of serious reflection, most often written for the dead or a lost cause, but mainly for the universal subject of death.

The sonnet is the best known and most important of all the set forms. It means “little song” in Italian and was developed in Italy in the early Renaissance.It has a fixed rhyme scheme.

This form gives the shepherds the moment and pleasant rural scenery. It also called the Idyllic poem.

This form confines itself to the subjects and feelings proper to society in the life of formal, well-bred, highly civilized people. It modern practitioners are poets with a strong sense of medieval as well as classical traditionalists.