“From the poet's viewpoint a lyric is a poem which embodies a single or simple emotional attitude that expresses directly an uninterrupted mood or inspiration.”

— Herbert Read

Form in Modern Poetry(1932)

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Herbert Read 42

English anarchist, poet, and critic of literature and art 1893–1968

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“A short poem is often called a lyric, which originally meant a poem short enough to be set to music and sung for a moment's pleasure.”

Herbert Read (1893–1968) English anarchist, poet, and critic of literature and art

Form in Modern Poetry(1932)

“The weakness of art is that great poems do not ennoble politics, as they certainly should, and the trouble with politics is that they inspire poets only to mockery and scorn.”

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