Poetic Form
Lyric Poem
A short, musical poem expressing personal emotion or thought.
VoiceUsually first personThe speaker's own feeling
LengthShortUsually brief
ToneMusicalOnce sung to the lyre
FocusOne mood or momentNot a story
About the Lyric Poem
A lyric poem is a short, musical poem that expresses the speaker's emotions, perceptions, or inner state. "Lyric" originally meant verse to be sung to the lyre, and the form retains a musical, vocal quality, even when its modern descendants are read silently on the page.
Structure
No fixed form. The lyric is a mode rather than a shape: first-person, emotionally focused, usually short, organized around a single mood or moment rather than a narrative arc.
A lyric has no fixed shape. It is a mode rather than a form: a short, musical poem built around one feeling, thought or moment.
A Short History
- c. 600 BCSappho sings her lyrics on the island of Lesbos.
- 1500sWyatt and Shakespeare shape the English lyric.
- 1807Wordsworth publishes I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.
- 1850s to 1880sEmily Dickinson writes nearly 1,800 short lyrics.
- TodayThe lyric remains central to poetry today.
Famous Lyric Poems
- 01"Fragment 31"Sappho
- 02"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"William Wordsworth
- 03"Wild nights - Wild nights!"Emily Dickinson
- 04"One Hundred Love Sonnets: XVII"Pablo Neruda
Questions About the Lyric Poem
The things people ask most, answered in a sentence or two.
A lyric poem is a short, musical poem that expresses personal feeling or thought, usually in the first person. It is one of the most common kinds of poem.
A narrative poem tells a story with events and characters. A lyric captures a feeling or a moment instead.
The word comes from the lyre, the Greek stringed instrument. Lyric poems were first sung to its music.