Characteristics of Lyrical Texts
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ScribdTranslationsCharacteristics of Lyrical Texts
Translated by
ScribdTranslationsThe Lyric Text
It is one where the author expresses their feelings, emotions, and sensations.
freely. Its textual expression is the poem. It can be inverseor in
prose. When the lyrical text is in verse, its formal expression indicates that
each verse (or line of the poem) has rhythm and rhyme. On the contrary, when it is
en prosa, la rima no aparece pero sí se mantiene un cierto ritmo y
musicality of the language, and it is called poetic prose.
It is called lyrical because in ancient Greece, poems were recited.
accompanied by a musical instrument which was generally a lyre.
Over time, the instrument fell into disuse but not the custom of
recite. From there come the medieval troubadours and the songs
current.
Aristotle, in his Poetics (4th century BC), established the literary genres, and
he divided them into epic, lyrical, and dramatic genres. The epic refers to the
poetic texts where legendary events were narrated; examples of this
Characteristics of lyrical texts
The lyrical text is characterized by the presence of certain features of
language and literary elements.
lyric speaker
A poem consists of verses, and the verses are each line.
The lyrical speaker is the one who expresses themselves through the poem.
confusing oneself with the real author), who reveals their inner world. To this
the figure is also known as "the poetic self".
For literary analysis purposes, this creation is fictional, not real, although
many times the author is recounting a real event and his own
feelings about it.
Subjectivity
La gran carga de subjetividad es uno de sus principales rasgos, y es lo que
it differentiates to a greater extent the lyrical text from the epic and the dramatic.
Use of abundant literary resources
The poet makes use of metaphors, epithets, metonyms, comparisons,
hyperboles and other rhetorical figures to express oneself.
Metaphor
The pearls of your mouth. (The teeth of your mouth)
The celestial fireflies adorned the night.
night
The sky was covered with white cottons.
clouds
The murmur of the river could be heard.
A mother gives her life for her offspring. (A mother gives her life for her children)
Comparison
Luis is as elusive as a cat.
Her eyes are comfortable lights.
Tremble like jelly.
Luisa is as cowardly as a mouse.
They are so similar like drops of water.
José is brave as a lion.
Brevity
A lyrical text, unlike the epic or the dramatic, is usually brief. The
content, consequently, will be condensed, and for that reason, it goes to the
metaphors and other rhetorical figures, to express in few words
multiple meanings.
Meter and rhyme
In the lyrical text, meter and rhyme are used.
The meter is the number of syllables that make up a verse, and the rhyme is the
repetition of sounds that is heard from the last stressed vowel of the
last word of the verse. The rhyme can be consonant or assonant.
Consonant rhyme
It occurs when among two or more similar verses, the phonemes of their
The last letters are identical from the accented vowel. An example
nation / vision
assonant rhyme
It exists when the repetition of the last stressed vowels is similar, but
it's not the same. An example would be: 'good / lamb'.
Free verse
Free verse is the one that lacks rhyme and meter, but maintains a rhythm in
language. At the end of the 19th century, especially in Western poetry, there
used to express a greater freedom both in poetic language and
in its structure.
It is very close to poetic prose, and it is distinguished from it because it maintains
the typographic arrangement of the verses in lines.
Types of lyrical text: classification
Lyrical texts are classified into major genres and minor genres.
We can classify lyrical text into different types, major and minor:
among the elders, the song, the eclogue, the elegy, the ode, thesonnet, the
satire; and among the lesser ones are the letrilla and the madrigal.
Major genres
Song
It is a musical composition made for the human voice, which is usually
accompanied by musical instruments. There have been musicians who have
I put music to poems, turning them into songs, like those of Miguel.
Hernández, León Felipe, Antonio Machado or Mario Benedetti, to whom Joan
Manuel Serrat les puso música.
We can also mention Paco Ibáñez, another Spanish musician, who
set to music poems by Quevedo, Jorge Manrique or José Agustín Goytisolo.
Eclogue
Poems with bucolic (pastoral) themes that deal with the loves of their
protagonists. The environment is rural, and nature is seen as a
perfect and paradisiacal place. Garcilaso de la Vega, Juan wrote eclogues.
from Encina or Lope de Vega, among others.
Elegy
Poems that exalt the pain of losing or being without someone.
"Songs to the Death of His Father", by Jorge Manrique, is a good example,
or the poem 'Elegy', by Miguel Hernández, where he mourns the death of his
friend Ramón Sijé.
Ode
It is a poem that exalts a theme in a reflective manner. An example is
Ode to the Onion by Pablo Neruda.
Sonnet
It is a poetic composition characterized by four stanzas.
by two quartets and two tercets and a total sum of 14 verses. The sonnet
It can address any topic, and the most representative poets are Lope.
de Vega, Luis de Góngora, Quevedo, Cervantes, Calderón de la Barca (of
Golden Age) and more modern ones, Antonio Machado, among others.
Satire
Satire is a poetic composition that expresses mockery or sharpness, but
also indignation towards something or someone. It was common in literature
ancient Latin and Greek, and has often been used in later times
to report situations or mock the authorities.
Examples include 'El Buscón' by Quevedo or 'El diablo cojuelo' by Luis Vélez.
Guevara.
Minor genres
Little letter
The letrilla had several stanzas of short meter where usually at the end
each one has a refrain that repeats, and it was composed to be sung. Its
the powerful gentleman is
Don Dinero, by Francisco de Quevedo.
Madrigal
It is a poetic composition in which heptasyllabic verses are combined (of
7 syllables) and eleven-syllables (of 11 syllables), whose theme is generally
amoroso. Surgió en Italia y fue muy común durante el Renacimiento.
Poets write lyrical text
Example 1: “Elegy”, by Miguel Hernández (elegy)
I want to be the gardener crying
from the land you occupy and fertilize,
soulmate, so early.
Ejemplo 2: “Oda al vino”, de Pablo Neruda (oda)
Wine the color of day,
wine color of night,
wine with purple feet
or topaz blood,
wine
starred son
from the earth.
Ejemplo 3: “Madrigal”, de Gutierre de Cetina (madrigal)
"Clear, serene eyes,"
if you are praised for a sweet gaze,
Why, if you look at me, do you look angry?
If as much more pious
you appear more beautiful to those who look at you,
do not look at me with anger,
so that you do not appear less beautiful.
Oh, raging torments!
Clear, serene eyes,
Since you look at me like that, at least look at me.
Example 4: “Defeat,” by Rafael Cadenas (free verse)
"Me who has never had a trade"
that above all competitors I have felt weak
that I lost the best titles for life
As soon as I arrive at a place, I want to leave (thinking that moving is a
solution)