Alternative title: lyric poetry

Lyric, a verse or poem that is, or supposedly is, susceptible of being sung to the
accompaniment of a musical instrument (in ancient times, usually a lyre) or that
expresses intense personal emotion in a manner suggestive of a song. Lyric poetry
expresses the thoughts and feelings of the poet and is sometimes contrasted with
narrative poetry and verse drama, which relate events in the form of a story. Elegies,
odes, and sonnets are all important kinds of lyric poetry.

Features of Elegy

 Usually, elegies are identified by several characteristics

of genre:
 Just like a classical epic, an elegy typically starts with the
invocation of the muse and then proceeds by referencing to
the traditional mythology.
 It often involves a poet who knows how to phrase the thoughts
imaginatively in the first person.
 Questions are raised by the poet about destiny, justice and
fate.
 The poet associates the events of the deceased with events in
his own life by drawing a subtlecomparison.
 This kind of digression gives the poet space to go beyond the
main or crude subject to a deeper level where the connotations
might be metaphorical.
 Towards the end the poet generally tries to provide comfort to
ease the pain of the situation. The Christian elegies usually
proceed from sorrow and misery to hope and happiness
 because they say that death is just a hindrance in the way of
passing from the mortal state into the eternal state.

The word sonnet is derived from the Italian word “sonetto”. It means
a small or little song or lyric. In poetry, a sonnet has 14 fourteen
lines and is written in iambic pentameter. Each line has 10 syllables.
It has a specific rhyme scheme and a “volta” or a specific turn.

Function of Sonnet

The sonnet has become popular among different poets because it

has a great adaptability to different purposes and requirements.
Rhythms are strictly followed. It could be a perfect poetic style for
elaboration or expression of a single feeling or thought with its short
length in iambic pentameter. In fact, it gives an ideal laboratory to a
poet for exploration of strong emotions. Due to its short length, it is
easy to manage for both the writer and the reade

An ode is a form of poetry such as sonnet or elegy, etc. Ode is a

literary technique that is lyrical in nature, but not very lengthy. You
have often read odes in which poets praise people, natural scenes,
and abstract ideas. Ode is derived from a Greek word aeidein,
which means to chant or sing. It is highly solemn and serious in its
tone and subject matter, and usually is used with elaborate patterns
of stanzas. However, the tone is often formal. A salient feature of
ode is its uniform metrical feet, but poets generally do not strictly
follow this rule though use highly elevated theme.

Odes are of three types, including:

Pindar Ode

This ode was named after an ancient Greek poet, Pindar, who
began writing choral poems that were meant to be sung at public
events. It contains three triads; strophe, antistrophe and
final stanza as epode, with irregular rhyme patterns and lengths of
lines.
Horatian Ode

The name of this ode was taken from a Latin poet, Horace. Unlike
heroic odes of Pindar, Horatian ode is informal, meditative and
intimate. These odes dwelled upon interesting subject matters that
were simple and gave pleasure to senses. Since Horatian odes are
informal in tone, they are devoid of any strict rules.
Irregular Ode

This type of ode is without any formal rhyme scheme and structure
such as Pindaric ode. Hence, the poet has great freedom and
flexibility to try any types of concepts and moods. William
Wordsworth andJohn Keats were such poets who extensively wrote
irregular odes, taking advantage of this form.
Function of Ode

Ode is a form of lyrical poetry in which poets use a certain metrical

pattern, rhyme scheme and can express their noble and lofty
sentiments in serious and sometimes satirical tone. Since the
themes of odes are inspiring and lofty that bears significance,
therefore have universal appeal. Also, by using sublime and
exceptional style, poets endeavor to compose grand and elevated
types of odes. Sometimes odes may be humorous, but they are
always thoughtful, intended to explore important themes and
observations related to human relations, emotions and senses.

Dramatic poetry, also known as dramatic verse or verse drama, is a written work that both tells
a story and connects the reader to an audience through emotions or behavior. A form of
narrative closely related to acting, it usually is performed physically and can be either spoken or
sung. Normally, it uses a set rhyming or meter pattern, setting it apart from prose. It has evolved
since its start in ancient Greece, but it still survives today, especially in opera librettos. A lack of
strict guidelines makes it somewhat debatable what exactly counts as a dramatic poem, but in
general, the four main accepted forms include soliloquy, dramatic monologue, character sketch
and dialogue.

Key Features

This type of poetry uses the speech and actions of at least one person to depict a scene
or plot. It is different than plain narrative because the focus is usually on how that
individual emotionally or physically controls or responds to what is going on — that is, it
is more than a simple explanation of fact. Often, it is from the character’s point of view,
giving the audience an idea of his personality, morals, history and dreams.
Forms

Dramatic poetry can take one of several forms: soliloquy, dramatic monologue,
character sketch and dialogue. Any of these forms can stand by itself, but when a
person is writing a play, he might use more than one style, depending on how he wants
to show development. The best actors and actresses are able to move seamlessly from
one form to another, although some end up specializing.

In a soliloquy, a character speaks mainly to himself, not interacting with anyone else. It
typically is a good way to quickly show what he thinks, wants or is going to do, because
it gives insights into his mind. Perhaps the best example comes from
William Shakespeare’s tragic play, Hamlet, in which Hamlet questions whether it is
better to live or die.
A dramatic monologue is very similar to a soliloquy in that it reveals something about
the speaking character. The main difference is that, here, the actor is talking to
someone else in the play, not just himself. This second person doesn’t say anything, but
their presence often makes the speech a little bit more believable. This type of dramatic
poetry usually shows up during critical moments in the plot.

With a character sketch, a writer’s main goal is to make the audience feel something for
the character, rather than to move the plot along. The feeling can be sympathy, hatred
or anything in between, but the result is usually that a person watching the play
becomes emotionally connected to what is going on, creating a more memorable
theater experience. The individual delivering the lines serves the main role of observer.

Dialogue takes at least two people, who exchange lines to direct action, give information
or tell something about themselves. The benefit of this form is that actors can play off
each other, responding naturally to what the other person does so that the play doesn’t
seem overly rehearsed. The challenge in using it in dramatic poetry, however, is that a
writer has to maintain some similarity between the rhythm and meter of the text for both
speakers, even as he tries to make each one seem to have a separate personality.
Changing the meter or rhyme scheme dramatically as each person talks can make the
overall flow of the scene seem too choppy or disconnected. An example in this group
is The Shadowy Waters by William Butler Yeats.

Narrative Poetry

Narrative poetry gives a verbal representation, in verse, of a sequence of connected

events, it propels characters through a plot. It is always told by a narrator. Narrative
poems might tell of a love story (like Tennyson's Maud), the story of a father and son
(like Wordsworth's Michael) or the deeds of a hero or heroine (like Walter Scott's Lay of
the Last Minstrel).

Sub-categories of narrative poetry:

Epics usually operate on a large scale, both in length and topic, such as the founding of
a nation (Virgil’s Aeneid) or the beginning of world history (Milton's Paradise Lost),
they tend to use an elevated style of language and supernatural beings take part in the
action.

The mock-epic makes use of epic conventions, like the elevated style and the
assumption that the topic is of great importance, to deal with completely insignificant
occurrences. A famous example is Pope's The Rape of the Lock, which tells the story of a
young beauty whose suitor secretly cuts off a lock of her hair.

A ballad is a song, originally transmitted orally, which tells a story. It is an important

form of folk poetry which was adapted for literary uses from the sixteenth century
onwards. The ballad stanza is usually a four-line stanza, alternating tetrameter and
trimeter.
 Types of Poetry
When studying poetry, it is useful first of all to consider the theme and the
overalldevelopment of the theme in the poem. Obviously, the sort of development that
takes place depends to a considerable extent on the type of poem one is dealing with. It
is useful to keep two general distinctions in mind (for more detailed definitions consult
Abrams 1999 and Preminger et al 1993): lyric poetry and narrative poetry.

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 questions 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 or 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,
whenThomas Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey translated and imitated the sonnets written
byPetrarch (Petrarchan sonnet). From the seventeenth 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). Many poets wrote a series of
sonnets linked by the same theme, so-called sonnet cycles (for instance
Petrarch, Spenser, 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
anepithalamion, for instance Spenser’s Epithalamion), the return of a king from exile
(for instance Dryden’s Annus Mirabilis) or a death (for example Milton’sLycidas), etc.

Descriptive and Didactic Poetry

Both lyric and narrative poetry can contain lengthy and detailed descriptions
(descriptive poetry) or scenes in direct speech (dramatic poetry).

The purpose of a didactic poem is primarily to teach something. This can take the
form of very specific instructions, such as how to catch a fish, as in James Thomson’sThe
Seasons (Spring 379-442) or how to write good poetry as in Alexander Pope’sEssay on
Criticism. But it can also be meant as instructive in a general way. Until the twentieth
century all literature was expected to have a didactic purpose in a general sense, that is,
to impart moral, theoretical or even practical knowledge; Horacefamously demanded
that poetry should combine prodesse (learning) anddelectare (pleasure). The
twentieth century was more reluctant to proclaim literature openly as a teaching tool.

Proverb: a short sentence, etc., usually known by many people, stating something commonly
experienced or giving advice or a short popular saying, usually of ancient origin, that expresses
effectively some commonplace truth or useful thought; .
Slow and steady wins the race"
A bad cause requires many words.
A broken hand works, but not a broken heart.

Saying: a well-known and wise statement made by famous people, which often has a meaning
that is different from the simple meanings of the words it contains:
What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies.
- Aristotle.
Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value. - Albert Einstein
Hinduism is not a religion, its a way of life.
-Swami Vivekananda