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group lyric

Form
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A lyric poem collaboratively composed or voiced by a group, often used in communal or ceremonial contexts.

Detailed Definition
Group lyric refers to a lyric poem composed collaboratively or intended to express collective emotion rather than individual subjectivity; it often emerges from communal rituals, political movements, or choral traditions, blending personal feeling with shared experience—examples include workers’ anthems, liturgical hymns, or contemporary protest poems where the “I” dissolves into a plural “we” to convey solidarity and common purpose.
Example
Example in poetry:
Group lyric appears in Greek chorus odes; In Whitman’s “Song of Myself,” collective “I” sings for all; In Langston Hughes’ “I, Too,” individual merges with national group; In contemporary poet Danez Smith’s “Don’t Call Us Dead,” Black queer voices form group lyric; In Joy Harjo’s “An American Sunrise,” Indigenous community voices unite.
Additional Notes
A poem intended to be sung by a group; often characterized by a strong, simple rhythm, repeatable refrains, and themes of communal experience or collective identity; compare with 'group song'.
Also Known As
communal lyric choral lyric group hymn shared lyric Choral ode
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