Towards a Theory of the Lyric
Towards a Theory of the Lyric

Summary/Abstract: This introduction to the project Jonathan Culler’s Theory of the Lyric (2015) questions the general validity of two extant models of the lyric poem—the poem as expression of the intense experience of the poet and the poem as the discourse of a fictional speaker in a situation that should be reconstructed – arguing that both models direct readers attention away from what is most distinctive about the language of the poem. Focusing on the tension between the fictional and ritualistic elements of the poem, such as rhythmical and phonetic patterning, it also discusses distinctive aspects of the use of verb tenses in the English lyric.

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