THE 6 MOST OUTSTANDING ELEMENTS OF THE LYRICAL GENRE - LITERATURE - 2025

The main elements of the lyric genre are the poem, the verse, the stanza, the meter, the rhythm and the rhyme. The lyric is one of the most cultivated literary genres.

It appears mainly in poetic works, although occasionally it can be mixed with narrative to give rise to narrative poetry.

It is characterized by the use of verse, as opposed to narrative, which relies mostly on prose.

The verse is the basis for the composition of poems. The poem is the classic form of literary expression of the lyric.

This genre is characterized by the subjectivity that the author transmits through his written work.

Contrary to narrative, in which there may be an appearance of objectivity and distance (especially when third-person narration is used), the author's feelings and worldviews are clearly manifested in lyric.

The 6 most important elements of lyric

1- Poem

The poem is a poetic work of variable length. It is the classic form of presentation of lyrical literature. For this reason, lyric and poetry are closely linked and sometimes are automatically associated.

The poem consists of verses. The verses are minor units equivalent to the phrase in the narrative: they end up forming a set, which is the poem.

For its part, the stanza is another intermediate unit between the verse and the poem. Several verses make a stanza and several stanzas make a poem.

2- The verse

As mentioned earlier, the verse is the equivalent of the narrative phrase. It is considered one of the minimum units of the poem, below the stanza.

The length of the verse is not measured in words but in syllables. These syllables do not always correspond to the written syllables, but rather have a metric, musical sense.

Depending on the length (number of metric syllables) there are heptasyllable verbs, which are those of seven syllables; octosyllables, which have eight syllables; hendecasyllables, which have eleven syllables; and Alexandrians, who have fourteen syllables; among others.

3- The stanza

The stanza is the set of verses followed by a pause marked by a punctuation mark.

This sign can be a period and a followed, a period and a separate, or a semicolon. Groups verses that share rhythmic and rhyming unity.

Depending on the number of verses they contain and the rhyme, the stanzas can also be given different names.

The stanzas formed only by two verses can be called couplets, alleluia or joy; those with three verses can be triplets, triplets or soleás.

4- Metric

Metric has to do with the number of metric syllables in each verse. As seen in a previous point, the length will determine the type of verse.

5- The rhythm

In lyric poetry, rhythm is an elementary feature that will determine the poetic structure. To do this, the distribution of accents in the verses must be studied, which will determine the metric of the poem.

Other elements that define the poetic rhythm are the repetition of certain words, rhyme and the alternation of structures to break the monotony.

6- the rhyme

Rhyme is the repetition of sounds, and is measured from the stressed syllable at the end of two or more verses that share rhyme.

The first classification of rhyme establishes the division between assonance rhymes and consonant rhymes.

This division takes as a reference if the rhyme occurs when all the phonemes of the syllables in question coincide, or only the vowels.

There are other divisions that are used in the stylistic study of poetic works. For example, according to the arrangement of the rhymes within the stanza or depending on the type of word according to the accentuation of the syllable that rhymes (acute, flat or esdrújula).

References

1. "Poetry: the basics", Jeffrey Wainwright. (2011).
2. "Poetry in Theory: An Anthology 1900-2000", Jon Cook. (2004).
3. Poetry on Encyclopaedia Britannica, at britannica.com
4. What is Poetry? An Introduction, on Thought.Co, at thoughtco.com
5. Poetry: Definition and Examples, on Literary Terms, at literaryterms.net