Part 1: Forms of Poetry--Lyric

2. Lyric
Definition: A lyric poem is a short poem that was originally sung and set to music (such as a lyre). Often sounding “melodic or song-like,” these poems are unrestricted by meter and are usually written in first person (CL 119). This allows for the expression of “the personal emotion and thoughts of a single speaker” (Meyer). Lyric poems also often address the reader and are generally “descriptive, focusing on personal moments, feelings, or image-laden scenes” (CL 119). Lyric poetry can include “the elegy, the dramatic monologue, and the ode” (Literary).

Examples:

“How Do I Love Thee?” –Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith
I love thee with a love I seem to love
With my lost saints, - I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! - and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.


“The Fiddler of Dooney” –William Butler Yeats

When I play on my fiddle in Dooney,
Folk dance like a wave of the sea;
My cousin is priest in Kilvarnet,
My brother in Moharabuiee.

I passed my brother and cousin:
They read in their books of prayer;
I read in my book of songs
I bought at the Sligo fair.

When we come at the end of time,
To Peter sitting in state,
He will smile on the three old spirits,
But call me first through the gate;

For the good are always the merry,
Save by an evil chance,
And the merry love the fiddle
And the merry love to dance:

And when the folk there spy me,
They will all come up to me,
With ‘Here is the fiddler of Dooney!'
And dance like a wave of the sea.


“On Top of Old Smokey” –Unknown

On top of Old Smokey,
All covered with snow,
I lost my true lover,
For courting too slow.

For courting's a pleasure,
But parting is grief,
And a false-hearted lover,
Is worse than a thief.

A thief will just rob you,
And take what you have,
But a false-hearted lover,
Will lead you to your grave.

The grave will decay you,
And turn you to dust,
Not one boy in a hundred
A poor girl can trust.

They'll hug you and kiss you,
And tell you more lies,
Than crossties on a railroad,
Or stars in the sky.

So come ye young maidens,
And listen to me,
Never place your affection
In a green willow tree.

For the leaves they will wither,
The roots they will die,
And you'll be forsaken,
And never know why.



Works Cited

Darigan, Daniel L., Michael O. Tunnell, and James S. Jacobs. Children’s Literature: Engaging Teachers and Children in Good Books. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2002.

“Literary Terminology: Lyric.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006.

“Lyric.” Meyer Literature: Glossary of Literary Terms. 2 November 2009. http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/literature/bedlit/glossary_l.htm

“Lyric.” Representative Poetry Online (RPO). 2 November 2009. http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/display_rpo/terminology.cfm#lyric

“Lyric Poetry.” Literary Terms. 2 November 2009. http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/lit_term.html

Poems

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. “How do I love thee?” The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Victorian Age. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2006. 1085.

“On Top of Old Smokey.” KIDiddles—Song Page. 5 November 2009. http://www.kididdles.com/lyrics/o036.html

Yeats, William Butler. “The Fiddler of Dooney.” Bartleby.com. 5 November 2009. http://www.bartleby.com/146/11.html