![]() Ode is also a type of lyric poem written to express a poet's feelings and thoughts about a specific person or subject. However, An elegy not only deals with the theme of mourning, lamentation, and sorrow but also solace and redemption. This poem reflects the death of President Abraham Lincoln who was assassinated. Another example is "O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman. The poem was written to mourn the death of the poet Richard West in 1742. Thomas Grey's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" is an example of an elegy. An elegy is a mourning song sung over the death of a near and dear one. On the other hand, the lyric poets have been celebrating love, be it a mother's love for her son/daughter or people's love for mankind or God, from time immemorial.Ī lyric poem can be in the form of elegy, ode, hymn, epitaph, sonnet, and a love song. Therefore, medieval poets used to celebrate the arrival of spring. On the other hand, bringing light, spring brought the warmth and pleasure of life. It was a dark, cold, and miserable moment in life. Medieval people considered winter uncomfortable moments of life. Love and nature are the two common subject matters of lyric poetry. However, a lyric poem does not tell any story it just expresses a single speaker's personal feelings musically. A lyrical poem is also different from narrative poems in the sense that a narrative poem, which has a beginning, middle, and end, tells a story. According to Cuddon's dictionary, a lyric is "not often longer than fifty or sixty lines, and often only between a dozen and thirty lines". ![]() Unlike narrative poems such as ballad or epic poems, a lyrical poem is very short in length. Poets choose lyric poems to express their personal feelings and thoughts. ![]() However, the musical part was ignored in some kinds of lyric poems though, later, choral ode and ballad retained musical aspects. We the modern people still call the words of songs the lyrics. Scholars say that lyric poems initially were songs. This instrument was used when the ancient people used to recite or chant poetry. In fact, according to Cuddon's DICTIONARY OF LITERARY TERMS AND LITERARY THEORY, "The Greek defined lyric as a song to be sung to the accompaniment of a lyre (lyra)." The lyre is a musical instrument and the name of the lyric poem originated from this instrument. Therefore, we can easily guess that human beings used rhythmic songs long before the formation of the oral epic. Don't we see our mothers uttering lullabies to put their babies to sleep? Don't we see ourselves chanting rhythmic words to draw enthusiasm in our work? Similarly, we can guess that ancient mothers might have used lullabies to put their babies to sleep and people might have chanted rhythmic songs which gave them enthusiasm in their work. As a literary genre, according to scholars, the lyric poem is arguably the oldest one.
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