The lyrics are one of the main literary clans. Translated from Greek, this word denotes a musical instrument - a lyre. This is due to the fact that in the ancient world poets sang their poems to the sounds of the lyre, rather than read. It was also customary to portray them with this tool.
To better understand what lyricism is, you need to compare it with two more kinds of literature: drama and epic. The epos, in contrast to it, tells about the life of a person, about the events occurring with him. The drama reflects life in the experiences and actions of the hero, that is, in the action shown in the work. The lyrics depict the thoughts, feelings and emotions of the hero, not all, but only those that are caused by the specific circumstances of life. She reveals his inner world and thereby allows the reader to imagine what circumstances caused the experiences that are described by the author.
Despite the laconicism, brevity of poetic works, they have all the features of a figurative, artistic depiction of life: an element of fiction, generalization, individualization, educational value. It also helps to understand in more detail what lyrics are. The generalization of poems is manifested in the desire to convey in the experiences of one lyrical hero the experiences that are common to many, typical. Individuality is manifested by the transfer of real, living feelings of a single person. An element of fiction is present in the poet's transmission of experiences characteristic of the historical period in which he lives, his era. The educational value of poetic works is to depict experiences that reflect life in the light of a reigning ideology.
Thus, the image of the lyrical hero in the work helps to fully understand what the lyrics are, to evaluate its meaning. As a rule, it arises in the reader’s view after acquainting with not one, but with a number of poems of one poet, and even better - with all his work.
Arguing about what lyrics are, it is impossible not to mention its characteristic feature - the poetic form. This is a mandatory feature of any kind. Lyrical works, dressed in a poetic form, perfectly convey all kinds of shades of human speech, its saturation with feelings.
Types of lyrics are distinguished according to the principle underlying their classification. So, according to the content of the poetic work, they distinguish landscape, love, philosophical and other lyrics.
In addition, since ancient times, the following types of this literary genus have been distinguished: folk song, elegy, madrigal, stanza, eclogue, epigram, epitaph.
For example, madrigal. Initially, it was a shepherd’s song of idyllic content, but gradually grew into a poem in which, in a joking tone, an exaggeratedly positive characterization of the person addressed by the author is given. The poets of the late 18th and early 19th centuries were still composed by madrigals, departing from the form adopted in antiquity.
A kind of poetry like eclogue is similar to a pastoral or idyll. Most often, the poem was written in the form of small dialogues. Often it was staged on stage accompanied by suitable music and dancing.
Elegy is a poem full of sadness. They are found in the lyrics of Western Europe and Russia until the beginning of the 19th century. They were written by M. Yu. Lermontov, A. S. Pushkin, V. A. Zhukovsky.
Among the various types of satirical poetry, an epigram stands out. A small poem contains an evil ridicule of some person. Although initially the ancient Greeks called this word an inscription on a pedestal, statue, dishes, and on the temple. Epigram writing is also common among contemporary poets.
These types of lyrics have the same names in the literature of Ancient Greece.