Lyric

This article looks at the historical interrelation of philosophy and lyric poetry. It explains that philosophers and lyric poets are alike because they both convey intelligible statements, employ formal structures and incorporate a social view from the outset. Despite these shared materials and aims, philosophy and poetry have some important differences. Philosophy strives for clarity and singularity in reference while lyric is always overdetermined. In addition, philosophy should be paraphrasable and translatable if its truth claims are universal, but poetry has finality of form, and to paraphrase it is a heresy; to translate it, a betrayal.