LYRIC POETRY. The origins of lyric poetry are merged with those of narrative, be cause of the primitive conditions under which the distinction between these types did not ex ist,— that is, when there was no clearly felt difference between the relating of an incident and the expression of the emotions associated with it. With the 'development of art there seems to have been a gradual differentiation of lyric and narrative expression, as there was a differentiation of the originally united arts of poetry and music. The progress of poetry was, in general, marked by an increased emphasis on the individuality of the artist and on the per sonal or subjective elements in lyric poetry; further, by the diminished importance of its association with music, and a corresponding growth of the reflective or intellectual elements, so that modern lyric poetry is but slightly asso ciated with actual song, though it is still cen tred on the expression of subjective emotion. The surviving sense of the original connection between this utterance of personal feeling and song is well illustrated by Wordsworth's ob servation that his lyric poems, though none of them songs, could not have their full force without a supposed musical accompaniment. For the various types of lyric developed from primitive song to late reflective lyric, see tinder LITERARY FORMS.
Song Lyric.— In Greek poetry this type is commonly called <(melic," and is distinguished according as a poem was intended to be sung by an individual or a chorus; the former class was associated especially with the 2Eolian race and its music, the latter with the Dorian. The principal names representative of Greek lyric are those of Terpander and Altman, in the 7th century B.c., Anacreon, Alcieus and Sappho in the 6th century, and Pindar and Bacchylides in the 5th. It should also be remembered that the Greek drama was in large degree a lyric form, containing choral odes made for musical rendi tion; so that in this sense 1Eschylus, Sophocles and Euripides are authors of some of the greatest of ancient lyrics. From the standpoint of its later influence, the most important feature of Greek lyric was its elaborate strophic structure, adapted to corresponding musical form. Thus the threefold structure of the choral odes, divided into ustropbes,D °anti and became the model for the few formal odes in modern poetry. The music of the Greeks and the corresponding types of lyrics were imitated by the Romans; but since the art of song held a much less im portant place at Rome, these types passed over into the literary lyric, and practically no ex amples of pure song-lyric are preserved from the period of classical Latin. In the 4th cen
tury of the Christian era occurred an important development of the hymn, especially under the influence of Saint Ambrose of Milan; and that form of lyric remains important to this day in connection with ecclesiastical music. From the medieval period a great body of popular song lyric survives, usually without association with any known author; it was also cultivated with elegant formality at the courts of princes, espe cially by the troubadours of Provence and the minnesingers of Swabia. In the Renaissance period this development of the art by courtly poets was continued, and in western Europe received a new stimulus under Italian influence. At the court of Henry VIII of England vocal music, both sacred and secular, was diligently cultivated, and from this period date several collections of songs; the Bassus, for example, printed in 1530 by Wynkyn de Worde, is one of the earliest English printed books. In Elizabethan England the connection between music and lyric poetry was maintained with enthusiasm, and musicians—courtly and other wise—vied with each other in producing col lections like William Byrd's 'Psalms,'