Modern Lyric Poet Apollinaire

Guillaume Apollinaire is a prestigious French poet who played an important role in the evolution of the French poetry during the 19 th and the 20 th century.He has influenced most of the art movements in his living time,such as the Futurism,the Cubism,the Dadaism,and the Surrealism.He was often called ? a lyric poet of modernity ? by French literary specialists.However,this definition causes confusion as well,especially for the Chinese readers who do not know the definition of ? lyricism ?,an essential term in western poetic studies.What is the lyric poet? Why is Apollinaire a lyric poet? Comparing with the lyricism of Apollinaire,the modernity in his poems seems much easier to be understood and accepted.Nevertheless,the combination of lyricism and modernity in his poems remains the most important and evident feature in his writings.This essay aims to prove that Apollinaire is a modern lyricist by analysing his poems.The first part will focus on the historical definition of ? lyric poem ? and the definition of ? modernity ?.Despite the difficulty to define the word ? lyricism ?,its existence in the literary field is ubiquitous,especially in certain literary genres,and the musicality of poetry,poet's personal feelings and his pursuit of ideal world are all significant features in poetry's lyricism.Meanwhile,the lyric poems cover some common themes : love,agony,death,religion,etc.The second part will show the influence of different literary and art movements on Apollinaire,in order to illustrate how the lyricism and the modernity coexist in the poems of Apollinaire throughout his different writing periods.In whatever literary style Apollinaire was interested,among which some were even anti-lyric(at least literally),such as the Symbolism,the Futurism,the Surrealism,etc,the lyricism always existed in his writings.Finally,the text of Apollinaire's poems will be analysed in the third part,to manifest how the lyricism and the modernity coexist in the rhymes,the images and the themes in his poems.