Lyric Poetry

Lyric Poetry 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. Most lyric poetry is made in a singable and rhymable way, although some lyric poems can be excepted. Lyrical poetry is often used in songs.

Themes:
Although lyric poetry has an association with love, and European lyric poetry in the vernacular arose with the courtly love tradition, it is not exclusively love poetry. Many of the courtly love poets (whether troubadours, trouvères, or Minnesänger) also wrote lyric poems about war and peace, nature and nostalgia, grief and loss. Notable among these are Christine de Pisan and Charles, Duke of Orléans, two of the great French lyric poets of the fifteenth century. Spiritual themes are also prominent in lyric poetry. Some of the best medieval poets wrote exclusively religious poetry. Prominent among these are such poets as St. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila. Note that it is sometimes hard to distinguish love poetry and religious poetry, since God and especially the Virgin Mary are often addressed in much the same terms as an earthly lover, and particularly like the noble lady in the courtly love tradition. Nature is also a common theme of lyrical poetry, often being portrayed as a reflection of (or contrast to) the poet's state of mind.

Forms
Although arguably the most popular form of lyric poetry in the Western tradition is the 14-line sonnet, either in its Petrarchan or its Shakespearean form, lyric poetry appears in a variety of forms. Ancient Hebrew poetry relied on repetition and chiasmus for many of its effects. In some cases, the form and theme are wed, as in the courtly love aubade or dawn song in which lovers are forced to part after a night of love, often with the watchman's refrain telling them it is time to go. A common feature of lyric forms is the refrain, whether just one line or several, that ends or follows each strophe. The refrain is repeated throughout the poem, either exactly or with slight variation.

Metrics
Much lyric poetry depends on regular meter based either on number of syllables or on stress. The most common meters are as follows:

Iambic - two syllables, with the long or stressed syllable following the short or unstressed syllable.
Trochaic - two syllables, with the short or unstressed syllable following the long or stressed syllable.
Anapestic - three syllables, with the first two short or unstressed and the last long or stressed.
Dactylic - three syllables, with the first one long or stressed and the other two short or unstressed.
Some forms have a combination of meters, often using a different meter for the refrain.

Each meter can have any number of elements, called feet. The most common meter in English is iambic pentameter, with five iambs per line. The most common in French is the alexandrin, with twelve syllables. In English, the alexandrine is iambic hexameter.

Rhyme and alliteration
These two elements are common to structuring lyric poetry in the Western tradition and make poetry difficult to translate effectively. Old Norse poetry depended heavily on alliteration. Continental Europe and England developed complex rhyme schemes and used alliteration as an auxiliary device. Although, to the lay ear, rhyme is the hallmark of poetry, it became less and less common in poetry in European languages in the twentieth century.

The Classical period
The scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria identified nine lyric poets worthy of critical study. These archaic Greek musician-poets included Sappho , Pindar, Anacreon and Alcaeus. The ancient scholars defined the genre on the basis of the metrical form and not the content. The Roman poet Catallus was influenced by Sappho as well as the Neoteric poets who had turned away from epic poetry to more personal themes. Horace was another notable Roman poet.

Middle ages
Originating in 10th century Persian, a ghazal is a poetic form consisting of couplets which share a rhyme and a refrain. Formally it consists of a short lyric composed in a single metre with a single rhyme throughout. The central subject is love. Notable exponents include: Hafez, Amir Khusro Auhadi of Maragheh Alisher Navoi Obeid e zakani Khaqani Shirvani Anvari Attar Omar Khayyam Rudaki. During the High Middle Ages in Europe the troubadors were travelling composers and performers of songs. The tradition began to flourish during the 11th century and was often imitated in the 13th. Trouvères were poet-composers who were roughly contemporary with and influenced by the troubadours but who composed their works in the northern dialects of France. The first known trouvère was Chrétien de Troyes (fl. 1160s-80s) and they continued to flourish until about 1300. Includes: William IX of Aquitaine Bertran de Born Arnaut Daniel Charles, Duke of Orléans Christine de Pisan Jaufre Rudel Bernart de Ventadorn François Villon. Minnesang was the tradition of lyric and song writing in Germany which flourished in the 12th century and continued into the 14th century. People who wrote and performed Minnesang are known as Minnesingers (Minnesänger). The name derives from the word minne, Middle High German for love which was their main subject. They wrote love poetry in the courtly love tradition. Includes: Heinrich von Morungen Neidhart von Reuental Oswald von Wolkenstein Reinmar von Hagenau Ulrich von Liechtenstein Walther von der Vogelweide Wolfram von Eschenbach. A bhajan or kirtan is a Hindu devotional song. Bhajans are often simple songs in lyrical language expressing emotions of love for the Divine. Notable exponents include: Kabir, Surdas and Tulsidas.

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