Lyrical Poem

Introduction

For the ancient Greeks, a lyric was a song accompanied by a lyre.

It was short, and it usually expressed a single emotion, such as joy or sorrow.

The word is now used more broadly, referring to a poem that, neither narrative nor strictly dramatic. But, it is an emotional or reflective soliloquy.

A lyric is set in present, catching a speaker in a moment of expression.

Types include Ballads, Limericks, Haiku, Sonnets, Free Verse, etc.

Structure: Framework of a work of literature; the organization or over-all design of a work. Sonnet

Song
A lyric intended to be set in music, or easy to sing.
A lyric of fourteen iambic five-foot verses. The first eight verses are referred to as the octave and usually are end-stopped.

Songs employ less of the terminals s, z, ch, sh, ed and more of m, n, l, r; less of complicated words and more of simple ones.

Shakespearean Sonnet: A sonnet with the first three quatrains rhymed as (1, 2, 1, 2; 3, 4, 3, 4; 5, 6, 5, 6) and a final couplet (7, 7).

Verse intended to be sung in a chorus is also referred to as strophic verse.

William Shakespeare wrote lyrics for songs in some of the plays. Examples of his lyrical poem are Spring and Winter.

Elegy

A lyrics is melancholy or mournfully contemplative. Death. Example: Because I Could Not Stop for Death

Ode/ Hymn

If the lyric is rather long, elaborate, and on a lofty theme such as immorality or a heros victory. Example, Wordsworths Hymn to Duty or Keats Ode to a Grecian Urn

Meter: The pattern of stresses, or beats, in poetry.

Much lyric poetry depends on regular meter based either on number of syllables or on stress.

Iambic Two syllables With the short or unstressed syllable followed by the long or stressed syllable. Trochaic Two syllables With the long or stressed syllable followed by the short or unstressed syllable. Pyrrhic Two unstressed syllables Anapestic

Three syllables, with the first two short or unstressed and the last long or stressed.
Dactylic Three syllables, with the first one long or stressed and the other two short or unstressed.

Spondaic
Two syllables, with two successive long or stressed syllables.

Rhythm of rhyme

Blank verse: The rhyme isn't regular (meaning it doesn't follow a particular pattern)

Inconsistent rhyme scheme(a,b,c,d,a,a)

Unlike sonnet, it uses a single stanza of (usually) fourteen lines and an intricate rhyme pattern.

Language
Uses of figurative language such as simile, metaphor, hyperbole and etc.

Ancient Hebrew poetry relied: Repetition Alliteration Chiasmus (a reversal of structures in order to make a larger point.) for many of its effects.

Theme
Love

Loneliness

Death

Victory

On the Departure Platform

We kissed at the barrier ; and passing through she left me, and moment by moment got smaller and smaller, until to my view. She was but a spot ; A wee white spot of muslin fluff that down the diminishing platform bore through hustling crowds of gentle and rough to the carriage door.

Under the lamplights fitful glowers,behind dark groups from far and near, Whose interests were apart from ours, she would disappear, Then show again, till I ceased to see that flexible form, that nebulous white ;And she who was more than my life to me had vanished quite.

We have penned new plans since that fair fond day,And in season she will appear againPerhaps in the same soft white array But never as then ! And why, young man, must eternally flyA joy youll repeat, if you love her well ?O friend, nought happens twice thus ; why, I cannot tell !

SUMMARY

Thomas Hardys work On the Departure Platform is a four-line, six stanza narrative poem. It is a dramatized account of the sights of the speaker as a lady (whom is his love) leaves him to board a train.

Although the speaker is very much in love with the woman, he feels that she can appear never as of then!due to their relationship being at its end. The authors use of imagery, amplification and connotations expresses in a non-literal form, the relationships ultimate demise at the hands of the womans loss of love.

ANALYSIS
As the poem begins, the speaker simply says, We kissed at the barrier. This sets the tone of the piece. It is immediately noticed that he avoids going into detail about the kiss. This suggests that it is quick and disconnected. The speaker does not mention their relationship or past moments, only the aspect of leaving; which is immediately determined by the reader as a negative.

The title, the initial line of the poem along with the one sided non intimate account all imply that the woman is leaving him emotionally and he accounts his feelings as she does so.

The atmosphere is then further developed to cast the image of losing his love for good. Under the lamplights fitful glowers, Down that diminishing platformboth use alliteration to focus the reader on fitful and diminishing.

The use of apostrophes helps amplify some of these alliterations throughout the text. These allow the reader to focus on how quickly the speaker feels his relationship is ending and his melancholic tone as it ends.

Images created in Thomas Hardys poem must be taken in a non-literal sense to grasp the true meaning of the speakers dialect. As he watches her fade, not only does the woman fade from his physical and emotional self but also he places her in a point where she is going to become a memory that once was. This is further enforced by his depersonalization of her form, setting her as a spot of muslin fluff.

Thoughts of the speakers love moving on to another man are a constant theme in the poem. The thought starts as he describes her as walking into a crowd. This symbolism of going back out to find another is reinforced. Behind dark groups from far and near, whose interests were apart from ours, explains the speakers discontent with letting her go. The speaker talks of how this is not in the interest of their relationship before the line She would disappear. In this, the speaker produces the thought of never seeing her again.

More powerful verbs and adverbs are used in parallel with each other. We see them come up in a rhythmic sequence after the speaker expresses his melancholic attitude towards the ending of their relationship. Fitful, apart, disappear, ceased, nebulous, and vanished are focal points of the speakers dialect. These all create a powerful feeling of loss, distance, and uncertainty. When the speaker uses these, they are all used in describing an action that the woman is taking as she leaves the speaker in the train station. This denotes his emotional loss for her.

The final stanza is a one-line remark from a friend to the speaker himself. In this dialect, they discuss the possibility of finding another woman for the speaker. Talking of how young men should always look for love with Why, young man, must eternally fly.(2101:21) The friend attempts to comfort the melancholic speaker by telling him that he will find love again. The speaker responds with a pessimistic remark, which makes the reader feel as though this love was a once in a lifetime ordeal.

Thomas Hardys poem, On the Departure Platform (2100) is a non-literal account of the loss of the readers love; specifically his relationship with a woman. The speaker expresses that his love can appear never as of then! (2101:20) due to her loss of love and distancing from him. The authors strong use of imagery and amplification, created the implication of the speakers relationships ending.

References
http://uk.ask.com/wiki/Lyric_poetry http://litera1no4.tripod.com/form_fram e.html#lyric http://mobin.com/poetry-guide http://www2.anglistik.unifreiburg.de/intranet/englishbasics/Poet ryTypes01.htm http://www.roanestate.edu/owl/Elemen tsLit.html