What are the characteristics of a lyric poem?

One of the most important characteristics of lyric poetry is the expression of personal feelings or thoughts. Other characteristics include a musical quality and the desire to express a specific emotion or mood.

Most lyrical poems are short, but there are longer examples. They also tend to be written in first person and include the writer in the poem. Another characteristic of lyrical poetry is in the types of moods and emotions the poem expresses. These emotions tend to lean toward the extremes in life, such as love, death or loss. Other emotions can be expressed, but the emotion is always very intense.