Lyric Poetry

Poetry in the first person singing voice — song, feeling, and thought rather than story or stage.

Specifications & Metrics

type

Poetic mode

origin

Ancient Greece (lyre-accompanied song)

originator

Sappho, Alcaeus, Pindar

meter

All metres

lines count

0

Core Principles & Analysis

• It began as poetry sung to the lyre in archaic Greece.
• Sappho's fragments set its intensity of personal voice.
• The lyric became the dominant modern mode as epic and drama receded.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Lyric poetry