Genres

Lyric Poetry

Also Known As Lyric Verse

Citation Formats

General Reference

Literature Atlas. "Lyric Poetry." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://literature.interactiveatlas.org/genres/lyric-poetry.

APA Style

Literature Atlas. (n.d.). Lyric Poetry. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://literature.interactiveatlas.org/genres/lyric-poetry

BibTeX

@misc{literatureatlas-lyric-poetry,
  author = {Literature Atlas},
  title = {Lyric Poetry},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://literature.interactiveatlas.org/genres/lyric-poetry},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

A genre of poetry expressing the personal feeling or reflection of a single speaker, as distinct from narrative poetry's telling of a story or dramatic poetry's staged dialogue. Its name derives from the ancient Greek practice of singing such poems to the lyre, and short fixed forms are especially associated with it across traditions, the sonnet in the European tradition and the haiku in the Japanese. Because it centers a speaking voice rather than a plot, lyric poetry is the genre most closely tied to particular formal structures, meter, rhyme and line, that a reader is expected to recognize as much as any subject matter.

Facts

Place of Origin

Ancient Greece 1

Notable Example

Sappho's surviving fragments 1

Defining Trait

A formal type of poetry that expresses personal emotion or feeling, typically spoken in a first-person voice. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Renga

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

The Limerick

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Encompasses Form

Concrete Poetry

A visual/typographic form within the broader lyric tradition.

Source Concrete Poetry (Wikipedia)

Free Verse

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Prose Poetry

A prose-format realization of the lyric tradition's devices, without verse lineation.

Source Prose Poetry (Wikipedia)

Sijo

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

The Ballad

Anthologized as a lyric form (a sung narrative) since Lyrical Ballads itself named the poems lyrical; Princeton Encyclopedia treats the ballad among the lyric-adjacent folk forms rather than under long narrative epic.

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

The Elegy

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

The Epigram

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

The Ghazal

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

The Haiku

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

The Ode

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

The Pantoum

Source Pantoum (Wikipedia)

The Petrarchan Sonnet

The Qasida

Source Qasida (Wikipedia)

The Rondeau

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

The Rubaiyat

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

The Sestina

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

The Shakespearean Sonnet

The Sonnet

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

The Tanka

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

The Villanelle

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Features Author

Ariel

Source Ariel (poetry collection) (Wikipedia)

Canzoniere

Source Wikipedia: Il Canzoniere

Gedichte

Kubla Khan

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Lyrical Ballads

Source Encyclopaedia Britannica

Petrarch

Canzoniere already in-genre Lyric Poetry; Petrarch himself carried no in-genre edge to it.

Source Wikipedia: Petrarch

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

A narrative ballad rather than a pure lyric, but anthologized under lyric poetry with the rest of Lyrical Ballads; see the Ballad form entry for the distinction.

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

William Wordsworth

Source The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Sources

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University Presss.v. Lyric

Quote, s.v. Lyric

a formal type of poetry that expresses personal emotions or feelings, typically spoken in a first-person narrative

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressLyric entry

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressEncompasses Form: The Sonnet

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressEncompasses Form: The Haiku

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressEncompasses Form: The Ode, s.v. Ode

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressEncompasses Form: The Elegy, s.v. Elegy

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressEncompasses Form: The Epigram, s.v. Epigram

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressEncompasses Form: The Sestina, s.v. Sestina

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressEncompasses Form: The Villanelle, s.v. Villanelle

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressEncompasses Form: The Ghazal, s.v. Ghazal

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressEncompasses Form: The Tanka, s.v. Tanka

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressEncompasses Form: Free Verse, s.v. Free Verse

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressEncompasses Form: The Ballad

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressFeatures Author: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressFeatures Author: Kubla Khan

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressFeatures Author: Samuel Taylor Coleridge

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressFeatures Author: William Wordsworth

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressAssociated With: The Limerick, Fourth Edition, s.v. Limerick

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressEncompasses Form: The Rondeau, Fourth Edition, s.v. Rondeau

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressAssociated With: Renga, Fourth Edition, s.v. Renga

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressEncompasses Form: Sijo, Fourth Edition, s.v. Sijo

1. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics

Princeton University PressEncompasses Form: The Rubaiyat, Fourth Edition, s.v. Ruba'i

Encyclopaedia Britannica

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.Features Author: Lyrical BalladsView the Source

Qasida (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)Encompasses Form: The Qasida, s.v. Qasida, StructureView the Source

Ariel (poetry collection) (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)Features Author: Ariel, Lead, opening

Quote, Features Author: Ariel, Lead, opening

It was first released in 1965, two years after her death by suicide.

View the Source

Pantoum (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia)Encompasses Form: The PantoumView the Source

Concrete Poetry (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia FoundationEncompasses Form: Concrete Poetry

Quote, Encompasses Form: Concrete Poetry

Concrete poetry is an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance.

View the Source

Prose Poetry (Wikipedia)

Wikimedia FoundationEncompasses Form: Prose Poetry

Quote, Encompasses Form: Prose Poetry