LYRIC POEMS

By: Kylynn, Maddy, Darryn, Lucas S., Yuri

What are lyric poems?

In modern days the word lyric brings to mind words to a song

Lyric poems are not limited to just the words of a song

Lyrics poems can be a poem such as haiku, limericks, ballads or sonnets

HISTORY

Lyric poems comes from ancient Greece where the Greeks would recite stanzas accompanied by a stringed instrument called a lyre.

Some major lyric poets included Horace, Ovid, Catullus

Besides Greece other countries that wrote lyric poems were Rome, India, China, and Japan

WRITING A LYRIC POEM

When writing a lyric poem keep in mind it should be short and convey intense feeling and should be something you feel strongly about

Don’t include the name of your theme inside of your poem. For example, if you poem is about love, don’t use the word “ love” in your poem. Find different ways to communicate your theme

Not all poems have to rhyme!

Make sure to edit your poem multiple times to produce a great poem.

They don’t tell a specific story!

London by William Blake

I wander thro' each charter'd street,Near where the charter'd Thames does flowAnd mark in every face I meetMarks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every Man,In every Infants cry of fear,In every voice; in every ban,The mind-forg'd manacles I hear

How the Chimney-sweepers cryEvery blackning Church appalls,And the hapless Soldiers sighRuns in blood down Palace walls

But most thro' midnight streets I hearHow the youthful Harlots curseBlasts the new born Infants tearAnd blights with plagues the Marriage hearse

"I Hear America singing" by Walt Whitman

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear;Those of mechanics--each one singing his, as it should be, blithe andstrong;The carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank or beam,The mason singing his, as he makes ready for work, or leaves offwork;The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat--the deckhandsinging on the steamboat deck;The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench--the hatter singing ashe stands;The wood-cutter's song--the ploughboy's, on his way in the morning,or at the noon intermission, or at sundown;The delicious singing of the mother--or of the young wife at work--orof the girl sewing or washing--Each singing what belongs toher, and to none else;The day what belongs to the day--At night, the party of youngfellows, robust, friendly,Singing, with open mouths, their strong melodioussongs

EXAMPLES

James DeFordItalian Sonnet by James DeFord, written in 1997:Turn back the heart you've turned awayGive back your kissing breathLeave not my love as you have leftThe broken hearts of yesterdayBut wait, be still, don't lose this wayAffection now, for what you guessMay be something more, could be lessAccept my love, live for today.

William ShakespeareAnother good example is this part of Sonnet Number 18, written by William Shakespeare:Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?Thou art more lovely and more temperate.Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease hath all too short a date.Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold complexion dimmed,And every fair from fair sometime declines,By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.

EXAMPLE CONTINUED…