Lyric

A type of brief poem that expresses the personal emotions and thoughts of a single speaker (Meyer). The poem is in first person, but the speaker might not be the poet. The term is often used to describe any type of expression in words, images, movements (Words of Art). Most are short and personal(Lynch). There are many varieties of lyric poetry. Dramatic monologue, elegy, haiku, ode, and sonnet forms are examples (Meyer).

Examples of dramatic monologue and sonnet include many writings from William Shakespeare such as ["All's Well that Ends Well"], ["Hamlet"], and ["Romeo and Juliet"]. A well known sonnet of Shakespeare would be [Sonnet 18].

Works Cited

Department of English. Dept. Home Page. Brooklyn College. 20 Sept. 2006 <http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/lit_term.html>.

Meyer, Michael. The Bedford Compact Introduction to Literature, Sixth Edition. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2002. 19 May 2003 <http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/bedintrocompact/>.

Words of Art: The L_List. Faculity of Creative & Critical Studies, UBC Okanagan. 20 Sept. 2006. <http://people.ok.ubc.ca/creative/glossary/l_list.html>.

Lynch, Jack. "Lyric Poetry." Lynch, Literary Terms —. N.p., n.d.