The Nineteenth Century in Print: Periodicals

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• Literature: The Serialized Novel |
• Poetry |
• Literary Criticism |
• Humorous Writing |
• Humor: The Lampoon |
• Aphorisms |
• Persuasive Writing |
• Biographical Sketches |
• Expository Writing |
• Botanical Illustration

Poetry

A lyric poem expresses the emotions or feelings of a speaker, who may or may not be the poet. Lyric poems are generally short and can be written in many forms; an ode or sonnet can, for example, be a lyric poem. Lyric poems usually are rhymed and have a regular meter or rhythm. Nature, love, and religion are common themes in lyric poetry.

Some of the finest British and American lyric poets published their works in the magazines included in The Nineteenth Century in Print: Periodicals collection. Read at least three of the poems below, or find and read other poems written by three of these American authors or such English authors as Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, William Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge, Alfred Tennyson, and Francis Bourdillon.

• "Ave," by Oliver Wendell Holmes, published in The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 54, Issue 324, October 1884
• "The Homestead," by John Greenleaf Whittier, published in The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 57, Issue 340, February 1886
• "Death's Valley," by Walt Whitman, published in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Volume 84, Issue 503, April 1892
• "Parting," by Emily Dickinson, published in Scribner's Magazine, Volume 19, Issue 6, June, 1896
• "The Mocking Bird," by Sidney Lanier, published in The Galaxy, Volume 24, Issue 2, Aug 1877
• "Eulalie – A Song," by Edgar Allen Poe, published in The American Whig Review, Volume 2, Issue 1, July 1845
• "A Caged Bird," by Sarah Orne Jewett, published in The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 59, Issue 356, June 1887

The Valley of the Shadow of Death—from
the painting by George Inness. Published
in Harper's New Monthly Magazine,
Volume 84, Issue 503, April 1892, page 708.
Whitman's poem "Death's Valley" was
written to accompany the painting.

For each poem you read, write a paragraph answering the following questions.

• Is this a lyric poem? Explain your answer.
• If it is a lyric poem, what emotion does it express? How does the poet use language to convey that emotion?
• What is the theme of the poem?
• What rhyming scheme (e.g., abab, abba, ababc) does the poem use? What is the poem's meter? Read the poem aloud and tap out the rhythm on your desk or table.
• If the poem is not a lyric poem, how would you describe the poem? For example, is it a narrative, dramatic, celebratory, or satiric poem?

When you have finished your analysis of the three poems, write a paragraph describing similarities and differences among the three poems you read. Which is your favorite? Why?