Lyric genre

Question 1

What is the lyric genre?

Answer 1

-works developed in verse
-focusing on author’s inner world

Question 2

Lyric principle

Answer 2

-Absence of plot -> plotlesness
-Time is not important -> atemporality

Question 3

Ode

Answer 3

-lyric poems which were sang
-thousands of years old
-praise of Greek Gods/Goddesses
-ceremonious lyric poems used for celebrating certain place, person, event
-most significant author was John Keets (Ode on Nightingale, Ode on Melancholy)

Question 4

Ellegy

Answer 4

-ancient greek song of lamentation over dead person
-nowadays any mournful poem

Question 5

Epitaph

Answer 5

-sub-genre of ellegy
-inscription that appears on gravestones

Question 6

Sonnet

Answer 6

-consisting of 14 lines
-fixed rhyme scheme

-originated in Italy in 13th century
-many writers adopted this genre
-Petrarch -> most famous (“Petrarchian Sonnets”)

-spread to England in 16th century
-W. Shakespeare -> master of English sonnet (“Shakesperian Sonnets”)

Question 7

Psalm

Answer 7

-Religious, song (usually in Bible) used in worship

Question 8

Epigram

Answer 8

-Wisdom -> it’s witty
-“There are no gains without pains” -> B. Franklin
-epigrammatist -> person who composes epigrams