LYRICAL text types: major and minor

A lyrical text is the one in which the author express your feelings, emotions and sensations in a free way. Can be written in verse (each of its lines is structured taking into account meter and rhyme) or in prose (it has a certain musicality and rhythm; can also be referred to as poetic prose).

Its name comes from the fact that in ancient Greece these texts were accompanied with a musical base made with an instrument called a lyre, although over time we have only been left with the habit of reciting these texts, but without musical accompaniment.

In this lesson from a TEACHER we are going to show you the different types of lyrical text which are structured into two large blocks: the major genres and the minor genres.

Let's start to know the different types of lyrical text talking about the major genres of the lyrical text. They are those that have a longer extension and are also usually the most used when we are about to write a lyrical form text.

You can find examples of these types of writing if you read the texts of

famous authors What Lope de Vega, Luis de Gongora, Quevedo, Cervantes, Calderon de la Barca, Antonio Machado, etc.

These are the different types of major lyrical texts.

Song

The song is a kind of lyrical text that shows the emotion and admiration on a specific topic. The topics he usually deals with are love, beauty, nature, friendship or God. may be accompanied by musical elementsSome composers have even chosen songs that only contained the text and have set them to music to be sung.

Anthem

hymns serve to extol the union of certain human beings with a common goalusually of a religious or political nature. They express a lot of exaltation of the topic they are talking about, raising it to the top with each of their words.

Ode

The ode is another type of lyrical text. We are facing a type of reflective text in which the author expresses all his thoughts about a topic very specific based on his observation of reality. There are odes to great characters, but also to everyday objects such as an onion.

Elegy

the elegy It is a poem that expresses grief over loss or death someone in a very dramatic way. It has even been used to recount some collective disasters that a particular people or humanity in general has suffered.

Eclogue

the eclogues they are poems that are situated in a country setting and they usually talk about it love between two shepherds or peasants who have very intense feelings for each other. Nature It is the axis on which their romantic love revolves and they present it in an exalted way as if it were a true paradise.

Satire

The satireis a type of lyrical text that shows the make fun of someone or something and that is normally subject to censorship. It can also show indignation towards a situation and has been a widely used text since ancient Greece to make fun of politicians or report situations that the people are living.

Sonnet

The sonnetit is always composed of a 14-line structure, organized into two initial quatrains and two preceding triplets. Following this structure, a sonnet can deal with any topic that the writer wants to address, that is why there are sonnets of practically all themes.

The minor genres of the lyrical text are those who have a minor extension and also it is not so common to find them when we look for lyrical texts. You can find examples of these types of texts in the works of authors as Amado Nervo, Francisco de Quevedo, Gutierre de Cetina, Maurizio Moro, etc.

These are the different types of minor lyrical texts:

Madrigal

It is a poem that emerged in Italy and was widely used throughout the period of the Renaissance. The theme on which it is based is love and it presents a very marked poetic structure in which heptasyllabic verses (of 7 syllables) are combined with hendecasyllables (of 11 syllables).

Epigram

an epigram is another type of lyrical text. It is a fairly short poem whose main theme is the satire towards some character famous or some frequent situation that the town usually experiences.

letrilla

the letter is a poem with a well-defined structure composed of several stanzas that all end with a small refrain that repeats every time. It is in this refrain that the strength of the theme that the author wants to talk about lies, and by repeating it he gets all the attention of the piece to focus there. Have a light mocking tone, with comedy parts and has usually been composed to be sung.

We hope that this lesson has helped you to learn about the different lyrical text types that exist. If you are interested in continuing to learn about this topic or something similar, you can take a look at the writing section.