LYRE BIRD 



3546 



LYRIC POETRY 



horns branched upward, carrying a crosspiece, 

 or yoke. The strings,.whose number varied from 

 three to ten or more, were stretched between 

 the yoke and the 

 body. The sound 

 was produced by 

 striking the 

 strings with the 

 fingers. The lyre 

 was the symbol of 

 Apollo, the god of 

 music and poetry* 

 and was the fa- 

 vorite instrument 

 among the Greeks 

 for accompanying 

 songs and recita- 

 tions ; from this 

 use of the instru- 

 ment the words 

 lyric and lyrical 

 are derived. As 

 a musical instru- 

 ment it is prac- 

 tically extinct, al- 



As great Pythagoras of yore, 



Standing beside the black- 

 smith's door, 



And hearing the hammers, as 

 they smote 



The anvils with a different 

 note, 



Stole from the varying tones, 



that hung 



, ., ..,, Vibrant on every iron tongue, 



though it still sur- The secrets of the sounding 

 wire, 



And formed the seven-chorded 



lyre. 

 LONGFELLOW : To a Child. 



vives in a crude 

 form among the 

 shepherds of 

 Greece and certain barbarian tribes of Africa. 



LYRE BIRD, one of the most remarkable of 

 Australian birds. It receives its name from its 

 beautiful and extraordinary tail, which in the 

 male resembles the ancient lyre (which see). 

 When erect, this tail is about two feet long, but 

 it is not perfected until the bird has reached 

 its fourth year. It is displayed to the best ad- 

 vantage while the bird is courting; in this re- 

 spect it is like the peacock and the turkey. 

 The nest is unusual; it is built on the ground, 

 is well-woven and is dome-shaped, with an en- 

 trance on cne side. Only one egg is deposited. 

 These birds are sweet singers, rapid runners and 

 good mimics. The size is about that of a small 

 fowl, and the body plumage is somber. 



LYRIC, lir'ik, POETRY, one of the three 

 classes into which poetry is divided, the others 

 being epic and dramatic poetry. Technically, a 

 lyric is any poem which is intended to be sung 

 to the accompaniment of a musical instrument, 

 the name coming from the word lyre; but very 

 many of the world's most beautiful lyrics were 

 never intended to be set to music. More ex- 

 actly, then, lyric poetry is the poetry of the 

 emotions, as distinguished from that of action; 

 and, as no emotions can be long sustained un- 



changed, most lyrics are comparatively short. 

 Of the classes of lyrics the most important are 

 songs, hymns, elegies, sonnets and odes, of which 

 only the first two are specifically written to be 

 sung. 



Lyric poetry began in ancient times, almost 

 all early verse having been written to be chanted, 

 but there have been periods in the world's his- 

 tory when little, if any, was produced for its own 

 sake, its only representative being the lyrical 

 passages in narrative poems. The nineteenth 

 century might almost be called the century of 

 the lyric, for so many such masters of that form 

 of verse as Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, Tenny- 

 son and Swinburne had never been seen before. 

 The world was ready to listen to narrative 

 poetry, but preferred above all to find its own 

 deepest emotions interpreted by these masters. 

 Among the best lyrics in English are the Lycidas 

 of Milton and the Adonais of Shelley (elegies) ; 



^Sir* 



THE LYRE BIRD 



Keats's On a Grecian Urn and Autumn; Mil- 

 ton's L' Allegro and 11 Penseroso; Wordsworth's 

 Sonnets; the charming songs of Tennyson's 

 Princess; Longfellow's Hymn to the Night, 

 Holmes's Chambered Nautilus. C.W.K 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred 

 the articles in these volumes on the masteis of 



