Onward we go with Noyes' poetry lecture. We had just finished reading about lyricism but wait...there is much more Noyes has to say about it: "The lyric, therefore, is a poet's fullest outpouring of himself." What is the lyric? It is described many times using different musical attributes. So let's talk about lyricism.
First to consider is rhythm/measure beat/meter. There are countless examples of how rhythm is the foundation of nature: the ebbs and flows of the tides, the rising and setting of the song, the beating of a heart. We see beauty in poetry for its rhythm.
Second is the emotion behind the words. Noyes implies that the peak of poetry is unfiltered, uninhibited emotion. While this force of emotion may be difficult for some readers to handle, rhythm organizes this emotion in such a way that we can understand the poet.
Third is the choice of words. A poet makes a careful selection of words and then organizes them effectively. Some tools used are:
-assonance: "the repetition of the same vowel sound within syllables but with different consonants, as shape, mate"
-alliteration
-tone-colour -- "Sweet dimness of her loosened hair's downfall" --??? "the slow change in the vowel quality seems to invest the image of a kind of "penumbra" of sound. ??? Might have to do more research into this one.
Fourth is the reliance on intellect.
The poet, as described by Noyes, is able to "transfigure the beauty he has seen in his little corner of the earth into cosmic vistas, opening to infinity, and transmutes his private joys and griefs into the great passionate foundations of universal happiness and suffering accessible to all men." This appears to be a tall order for a mere mortal, but I guess I can believe that there are people who are more emotionally open and they may also be good communicators that can express how they see the world to other people.
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