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Information about Nine Lyric Poets

The nine lyric poets (nine melic poets) were a canon of archaic Greek composers esteemed by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria as worthy of critical study.

They were:
  • Alcman (choral lyric, 7th cent. BC)
  • Sappho (monodic lyric, c. 600 BC)
  • Alcaeus (monodic lyric, c. 600 BC)
  • Anacreon (monodic lyric, 6th cent. BC)
  • Stesichorus (choral lyric, 6th cent. BC)
  • Ibycus (choral lyric, 6th cent. BC)
  • Simonides (choral lyric, 5th cent. BC)
  • Pindar (choral lyric, 5th cent. BC)
  • Bacchylides (choral lyric, 5th cent. BC)
In most Greek sources the word melikos is used (from melos "song"), but some authors have lyrikos, which eventually becomes the regular word in Latin (lyricus) and in the modern languages.

The ancient scholars defined the genre on the basis of the metrical form and not the content. Thus some types of poetry which would be included under the label "lyric" in modern literary criticism are nevertheless excluded, namely the elegy and the iambus.

The poetry of these poets is traditionally divided into choral poetry and monodic lyric. This division is, however, contested by some modern scholars.[1]

Footnotes

1. ^ See especially M. Davies, "Monody, Choral Lyric, and the Tyranny of the Hand-Book," Classical Quarterly NS 38 (1988), pp. 52-64.
''' The archaic period in Greece (750 BC–480BC) is one of the five periods of Ancient Greek history, defined on the basis of pottery styles.

Beginning in around 620 and ending in 480 the term is also used in a broader sense for a period spanning from 750 - 480.
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composer is a person who writes music. The term refers particularly to someone who writes music in some type of musical notation, thus allowing others to perform the music. This distinguishes the composer from a musician who improvises or plays a musical instrument.
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The term Hellenistic (derived from Ἕλλην Héllēn, the Greeks' traditional self-described ethnic name) was established by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen to refer to the spreading of
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Alcman (also Alkman, Greek Ἀλκμάν) (7th century BC) was an Ancient Greek choral lyric poet from Sparta. He is the earliest representative of the Alexandrinian canon of the nine lyric poets.
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Sappho (Attic Greek Σαπφώ [sapːʰɔː], Aeolic Greek Ψάπφω
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Anacreon (Greek Ἀνακρέων) (born c. 570 BC) was a Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and hymns. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of nine lyric poets.
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Stesichorus (Στησίχορος, lit. "he who puts up the chorus") was a Greek lyric poet from Himera in Sicily, who lived from 640 BC to 555 BC.
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Ibycus (Ἴβυκος), of Rhegium in Italy, was a Greek lyric poet. He was included in the canonical list of nine lyric poets by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria.
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Simonides of Ceos (c. 556 BC-468 BC), Greek lyric poet, was born at Ioulis on Kea. He was included, along with Sappho and Pindar, in the canonical list of nine lyric poets by the scholars of Hellenistic Alexandria.
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For the PINDAR military bunker in London, please see the PINDAR section of Military citadels under London


Pindar (or Pindarus, Greek: Πίνδαρος
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Bacchylides was an Ancient Greek lyric poet.

Early life

He was born at Iulis, in the island of Ceos. His father’s name was probably Meidon; his mother was a sister of Simonides, himself a native of Iulis. Eusebius says that Bacchylides "flourished" in 467 BC.
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Elegy was originally used for a type of poetic metre (Elegiac metre), but is also used for a poem of mourning, from the Greek elegos, a reflection on the death of someone or on a sorrow generally - which is a form of lyric poetry.
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iamb or iambus is a metrical foot used in various types of poetry. Originally the term referred to one of the feet of the quantitative meter of classical Greek prosody: a short syllable followed by a long syllable (as in i-amb).
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monody has become specialized to refer to a poem in which one person laments another's death. (In the context of ancient Greek literature, monody, μονῳδία
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Lyric poetry refers to either poetry that has the form and musical quality of a song, or a usually short poem that expresses personal feelings, which may or may not be set to music.
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