Lyric Plot

Lyric plot is a particular form of the development of content in a lyric work, consisting not in the movement of external events (as in the epic or drama) but in the dynamics of the feelings, experiences, and thoughts of the lyric hero — in the unfolding of his emotional state from one order to another. If in an epic work the plot is a system of events, then the lyric plot is an 'event of experience', an inner movement of the soul: the birth, growth, climax, and resolution of a feeling or reflection. A lyric plot may be built on the development of a single mood, on the juxtaposition of contrasting emotions, or on the dialectic of thought. For example, in the meditative lyric of Lesia Ukrainka or the philosophical poems of Vasyl Stus the lyric plot is a tense movement of thought and feeling toward an inner illumination or affirmation. An understanding of the lyric plot is a key to the analysis of a poetic work, for it reveals the inner logic and compositional integrity of the lyric experience.