Introduction to Lyric Poetry

Lyric poetry is a literary genre that expresses the feelings and emotions of the poet through carefully crafted language. Although it is often associated with verse, there are also lyrical texts in prose. The term derives from the lyre, a musical instrument from Ancient Greece used to accompany these poems. In Rome, while it lost its musical aspect, it retained its personal nature and diverse metric schemes. Lyric poetry reflects the poet's subjectivity and expresses feelings such as love, sadness, and nostalgia, often using the first person. It features expressive language, rich in literary devices, and seeks rhythm through meter and rhyme, predominantly written in verse. Major subgenres include the song, hymn, ode, elegy, and satire, while minor subgenres include madrigal and epigram. Prose poetry blends prose and lyric elements, focusing on aesthetic beauty without strict metrics.