| |
Probably the oldest, certianly the strongest, and definately the backbone of all poetry is the lyric poem. Predating the written word, the lyric poem is the basis for almost all modern song lyrics, and is the mainstay of Country, Rock, Pop, Blues, and even Rap musicians. The lyric poem, while often looked down on by those in literary circles, is the foundation on which all modern poetry stands.
The lyric poem is usually written in verses of four or eight lines with every other line rhyming the last word in the line, but variations such as rhyming the first word in every other line, or rhyming the last word in every line, or every pair of lines works equally well.
Each line generally contains five to seven sylables, but will sometimes include only four sylables. The true masters of lyric poetry can pull off as many as eight or nine sylables per line, but such a combination is rarely successful for most lyricists.
Lyric poets often start their work with a hook. That is, a line that is designed to hook, or capture the attention of the audience, but I have found it's easiest to just let the hook come to me as I write. The hook is usually repeated several times, and in the case of lyrics in song, the hook may be repeated between verses, or as an ending to a verse. When used in this manner the hook becomes a lyrical chorus. The best hooks usually come from cliches' used in contemporary language. This is where the lyric poem most differs from other literary forms as the constant repetition of common cliche's is frowned upon in most literary applications, and rightfully so.
The lyric poem is usually made up of three verses, because the music industry believes it difficult to maintain the attention of an audience for much longer than three minutes, and the same is true for poetry, but lyric poems can be one, two, four, five, or more verses as needed to make the poem work, but even poetry dictates that works of excessive length often fail in their desired intentions. This being said, write your lyric poems as concise as is possible without giving up on the message you're trying to convey. Repeating verses, or omitting verses can often cause some desired effects that might seperate your poem from the lot.
Rarely does the lyric poem contain more than three verses unless it is a ballad. Ballads are usually stories with tragic endings though the use of comedy in ballads works equally well. More important than the number of verses is whether or not you achieve some sort of conflict in your poem. Without conflict there is nothing to overcome, and no point to be made. Nothing drives home a point better than the lyric poem.
Lyric poems are so strong in fact, that masses of people have been stirred to protest, nations have been rallyed to war, and Armies still use a form of lyric poem called the Cadance to aid in training soldiers for battle. Lyric poems have the power to delight the imagination, and fan the spark of love until it becomes an out of control forest fire.
While usually four or eight lines make up each verse of the lyric poem, the lyricist can also use five, seven, nine, or twelve lines per verse. Combinations of six, ten, and eleven lines rarely work out.
Lyric poems can also encompass several other forms of poetry, the most common being the Limerick-- made popular in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales-- and the Roundelay where lines are often repeated throughout the body of the poem. Sometimes the Sonnet with it's fourteen line, Iambic Parameter format can work, but achieving the desired effect is difficult at best.
Like I mentioned earlier, the lyric poem is often looked down upon by the literary elitests among us, but it is the strongest form of poetry that exists on this world, bar none. The reason for it's strength lies in the fact that each line builds upon the preceeding line, and each line clues the reader, singer, or listener as to the content of the next line. Contrary to popular belief, most lyric poems write themselves. That's why the lyric poem is my personal preference.
It is because of it's strength that I prefer to write lyric poetry. The majority of poetry that has survived the test of time is lyric poetry in one form or another. In the past, lyric poems have been used to teach children basic life skills, and help adults learn trades. Prior to the year 1800, most cookbooks were written in lyric form, because girls weren't allowed to learn to read, but they could memorize poetry that taught them to cook. Since 1800, no one has published a cookbook of rhyming recipies, but I do have several rhyming recipies from Billy's Wild Salsa Cookbook posted here at PNP while I wait on answers from publishers considering the book. Wish me luck, please.
The occasional deliberate omission of a single rhyming line, or a single rhyming word can have a profound effect on the lyric poem. Ommitting one word can produce a strong feeling of loss. While rarely used, ommission is an excellent example of the strength of lyric poetry.
Few poets have been successfull at writing lyric poetry whithout a rhyming sequence but there is no reason why it couldn't be done other than the fact that audiences rarely accept free verse as well as they do rhyming verse. The problem lies in the fact that the attention of the audience cannot be commanded without some form of rhyme. While unrhymed lyrics have worked in some musical theatre productions, the only unrhyming lyric poet to make it into popular culture was the late Jim Morrison of the Doors (a rock-n-roll band of the 1960's) but most of Mr. Morrison's lyrics were written in rhyme. His success in the use of unrhymed lyrics comes from his exceptional performance strength, and overwhelming stage presence. It's been said of Jim Morrison that he could make counting out loud seem exciting if he had chose to do so. If you want to use unrhyming poetry as lyric poetry then good luck, but remember that you will still need some sort of meter, or rythmn to make it work.
Before joining the Doors, Jim Morrison was a Beat Poet. The Beat Poets of the nineteen fifties and early sixties commonly used lyric poetry in their recitations, but often used free verse as well. Both rhyming and free verse poetry rely heavily on rhthmn and beat in a repetitive pattern usually in 3/4 or 4/4 time.
While breaks and pauses are common in free verse, they are the exception in rhyming poetry. It's difficult to write breaks into poetry so the method most commonly used is to end a line where the pause is to take place as most readers pay little attention to punuctation, and many poets think it not necessary. I could argue that punuctuation is necessary, but won't do it here. Breaks and pauses are more common in lyric poetry that has been put to music as there is easier means to do so in music.
One of the downfalls of lyric poetry-- if there really are any-- is the fact that lyric poetry rarely translates well from one language to another. While the meaning might still be there, the rhyming sequence and meter of the poem are rarely if ever saved upom translation. Lyric poems are built on rhyme and meter, and will not remain lyric poems should that sequence fail to get reproduced upon translation. I really don't see this as a downfall unless you happen to write in some obscure language that is only spoken on the street on which you live, and won't be understood anywhere else on earth.
The biggest difference between lyric poems and song lyrics is the use of a bridge or chorus. Neither has to have either, but lyric poems rarely have a bridge or chorus, and song lyrics almost always have one or both. While many poets and musicians think a bridge and a chorus to be the same thing, they are in fact, quite different. A chorus is a repetition of words or phrases, even whole verses, that are used throughout the entire poem or song. The chorus can begin the work, can be repeated between verses, or it can be used only once if that produces the effect the writer desires. Sometimes a chorus might be no more than one or two lines at the beginning or end of each verse.
The bridge, on the other hand, is quite different from the chorus, and is rarely used more than once in any poem or song. A bridge is actually a musical term and requires no words, but many writers use the bridge as a place to add more words.
The biggest difference between a chorus and a bridge is a musical term called inflection. A loose definition of inflection is that the music turns back on itself. For the lyricist this causes quite a challenge so most lyric poems are written without a bridge, but the practice is still common.
I hope I have made myself clear in my descriptions of Lyric Poetry and its subtle differences. You can see many examples of lyric poetry in the work I've posted here at PNP. Rowdy Rode A Blue Rhino, and A Cat Named Cupid are examples of ballads. You can see a typical Verse-Chorus arrangement in To Find My Way To Thee and in The Computer Babe Blues, and a couple of poems that use a bridge include Sunshine On A Winter's Day and Another Child.
Last, but not least, don't forget to tag it. Tagging is when you repeat the last line of the bridge or chorus at the end of the poem or song. While there's no rule that states you must, the tag often becomes the line that cements your words on to the mind and heart of your readers and listeners.
|
Help Us Stop Plagiarism -
Nearly all works at PnP are original. However a few people choose to plagiarize.
To check, choose a phrase from the work, then either drag and drop to the search box or copy and paste.
click on search and works at Google will be shown which match. Just to be sure, please do this before
you recommend or rate the work highly...
|
 |
|
|
|
Select a Random Work
from Poetry Help
|
|
Welcome !
