Have you ever read a book where a passage just stood out to you and made you swoon—not because of the scene it portrays, but because of the beautiful sound of the lines and the words? If so, you probably experienced the wonders of lyrical writing.
Expert writers use lyrical writing to create a piece that feels more deeply evocative than usual, thanks to its song-like, poetic property. In a way, it’s prose that sounds more like a poem.
How to Practice Lyrical Writing
Here are some tips to write lyrically:
1. Think in terms of sound.
While writing is essentially about choosing words to use, for lyrical writing, you also need to think about how each sentence sounds. Pay attention to some of the elements that are common in poetry:
- Rhythm: Syllables and stresses can form a pattern; this pattern is called rhythm.
- Cadence: This refers to the rising and falling sounds in speech patterns.
- Sentence length: Pay attention to how long your sentences are, as well as how long they are in relation to one another. This adds to the overall musicality of your prose.
If you want your writing to have a lyrical rhythm, try diagramming the stressed and unstressed syllables in your sentences. Take this passage from Otto of the Silver Hand by Howard Pyle as an example:
“Hast been taught to ride a horse by the priests up yonder on Michaelsburg?” asked the Baron, when they had reached the level road.
Let’s mark the stressed syllables by turning them bold, as follows:
“Hast been taught to ride a horse by the priests up yonder on Michaelsburg?” asked the Baron, when they had reached the level road.
Try reading it aloud and hear the tone created by the stressed-unstressed repeated pattern throughout this paragraph.
2. Maximize the sound of vowels and consonants.
Poetry often uses literary devices that affect how we read words aloud. You can also use these in your prose to make them sound more musical. These can include:
- Assonance: Using this technique, you repeat vowel sounds.
- Consonance: This refers to the repetition and patterns of consonant sounds;
- Alliteration: This literary device refers to repeating the first sound in a word.
Check out this example of alliteration from Mark Twain’s short story, “30,000 Dollar Bequest”:
His wife, Electra, was a capable helpmeet, although—like himself—a dreamer of dreams and a private dabbler in romance.
3. Copy down lyrical lines from the prose and poetry you read.
Another way of learning to write more lyrically is to pay attention to how other writers do it by copying lines that you especially like.
For example, in Emily Climbs by L.M. Montgomery, the author writes this dreamy passage:
A great, pulsating star hung low in the sky over Indian Head. Emily gazed on it and recalled Teddy’s old fancy of his previous existence in a star. The idea seized on her imagination and she spun a dream-life, lived in some happy planet circling round that mighty, far-off sun. Then came the northern lights—drifts of pale fire over the sky—spears of light, as of empyrean armies—pale, elusive hosts retreating and advancing. Emily lay and watched them in rapture. Her soul was washed pure in that great bath of splendour. She was a high priestess of loveliness assisting at the divine rites of her worship—and she knew her goddess smiled.
Sure, the content itself may be thought-provoking, but more than that, what makes it sound so musical? Perhaps the alliteration and rhyme of the words “retreating” and “advancing,” and the half rhyme of the words “rapture” and “splendour.”? Notice also the varying lengths of the phrases and sentences.
4. Use your words to conjure up visual images.
Lyrical writing is not all about sound; it might also come about from the visual imagery that it conjures up for your readers.
For example, if you were to describe a street where all the houses are dilapidated and gloomy, how would you go about it?
Check out how Frances Hodgson Burnett would do it, from her classic book The Lost Prince:
The brick fronts of the houses were blackened with smoke, their windows were nearly all dirty and hung with dingy curtains, or had no curtains at all; the strips of ground, which had once been intended to grow flowers in, had been trodden down into bare earth in which even weeds had forgotten to grow. One of them was used as a stone-cutter’s yard, and cheap monuments, crosses, and slates were set out for sale, bearing inscriptions beginning with “Sacred to the Memory of.” Another had piles of old lumber in it, another exhibited second-hand furniture, chairs with unsteady legs, sofas with horsehair stuffing bulging out of holes in their covering, mirrors with blotches or cracks in them. The insides of the houses were as gloomy as the outside. They were all exactly alike. In each a dark entrance passage led to narrow stairs going up to bedrooms, and to narrow steps going down to a basement kitchen. The back bedroom looked out on small, sooty, flagged yards, where thin cats quarreled, or sat on the coping fo the brick walls hoping that sometime they might feel the sun; the front rooms looked over the noisy road, and through their windows came the roar and rattle of it. It was shabby and cheerless on the brighest days, and on foggy or rainy ones it was the most forlorn place in London.
5. Show descriptions to trigger emotions.
“Show, don’t tell” is a well-known adage for writers, but it’s even more important when it comes to lyrical writing. Telling your readers how they should feel about what’s happening is a big no-no; instead, use descriptive writing to show them what’s happening and trigger the right response from them.
For example, how would you describe the triumph that someone feels after hiking five days and finally reaching the peak of a mountain? Compare the two passages below:
Passage 1.
Finally, we made it to the top. We were exhausted—but exhilarated beyond measure. The past five days had been grueling, but now that we had reached the summit, it was all worth it!
Passage 2.
With one final step up that craggly slope, there we stood, the clouds practically within reach—the whole world before us, an endless mass of green, in all its shades and contours, the farmers’ cottages looking like doll houses, streets like meandering brooklets, the cool breeze breathing beauteous life to our nostrils.
Which of the above examples would you say falls under lyrical writing? Passage 2 uses more descriptive writing to show the reader things that will stir up their emotions, instead of telling them how they should feel.
How Can You Write More Poetically?
The above tips can help you write in more musical ways, whether you’re writing simple prose or even lyrics to a song! Try out these techniques, and keep a notebook where you list down the beautiful lines you hear or read every day.
The more you do this, the easier it will be to choose words and sentence structures that sound beautiful and also conjure up wonderful images in your readers’ minds.
Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
- 7 William Wordsworth Poems to Reflect On
- How to Write a Poem: 10 Tips and an Exercise to Get You Started
- Rhythm in Literature: Definition, Examples, and How to Create Your Own
- Caesura: How to Vary Rhythm in Poetry
Yen Cabag is the Blog Writer of TCK Publishing. She is also a homeschooling mom, family coach, and speaker for the Charlotte Mason method, an educational philosophy that places great emphasis on classic literature and the masterpieces in art and music. She has also written several books, both fiction and nonfiction. Her passion is to see the next generation of children become lovers of reading and learning in the midst of short attention spans.
