Lyric : The New Critical Idiom

The term 'lyric' has evolved, been revised, redefined and contested over the centuries. In this fascinating introduction, Scott Brewster:

• traces the history of the term from its classical origins through the early modern, Romantic and Victorian periods and up to the twenty-first century
• demonstrates the influence of lyric on poetic practice, literature, music and other popular cultural forms
• uses three aspects -- the lyric 'self', love and desire and the relationship between lyric, poetry and performance -- as focal points for further discussion
• not only charts the history of lyric theory and practice but re-examines assumptions about the lyric form in the context of recent theoretical accounts of poetic discourse.