4!.2!.1!. Lyric Poetry
A lyric poem is a comparatively short, non-narrative poem in which a single speaker presents a state of mind or an emotional state!. Lyric poetry retains some of the elements of song which is said to be its origin: For Greek writers the lyric was a song accompanied by the lyre!.
Subcategories of the lyric are, for example elegy, ode, sonnet and dramatic monologue and most occasional poetry:
In modern usage, elegy is a formal lament for the death of a particular person (for example Tennyson’s “In Memoriam A!.H!.H!.”)!. More broadly defined, the term elegy is also used for solemn meditations often on the question of death, such as Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard!.
An ode is a long lyric poem with a serious subject written in an elevated style!. Famous examples are Wordsworth’s “Hymn to Duty” and Keats’ “Ode to a Grecian Urn!.”
The sonnet was originally a love poem which dealt with the lover’s sufferings and hopes!. It originated in Italy and became popular in England in the Renaissance, when Thomas Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey translated and imitated sonnets written by Petrarch (Petrarchan Sonnet)!. From the seventeen century onwards the sonnet was also used for other topics than love, for instance for religious experience (by Donne and Milton), reflections on art ( by Keats or Shelley) or even the war experience (by Brooke or Owen)!. The sonnet uses a single stanza of (usually) fourteen lines and an intricate rhyme pattern (see stanza forms ch!. 4!.5!.)!. Many poets wrote a series of sonnets linked by the same theme, so-called sonnet cycles (for instance Petrarch, Spencer, Shakespeare, Drayton, Barret-Browning, Meredith) which depict the various stages of a love relationship!.
In a dramatic monologue a speaker, who is explicitly someone other than the author, makes a speech to a silent auditor in a specific situation and at a critical moment!. Without intending to do so, the speaker reveals aspects of his temperament and character!. In Browning’s “My Last Duchess” for instance, the Duke shows the picture of his last wife to the emissary from his prospective new wife and reveals his excessive pride in his position and his jealous temperament!.
Occasional poetry is written for a specific occasion: a wedding (then it is called an epitalamion, for instance Spencer’s “Epithalamion”), the return of king from exile (for example Milton’s “Lycidas”), etc!. Www@QuestionHome@Com