cultured and refined, the minstrel's power declined, though he was a
welcome guest at the feasts of the wealthy, where his song added to the
gayety of the occasion or gave dignity to the host as his deeds were
sung by the hireling bard. In the sixteenth century these singers
disappeared from view in the blaze of the Elizabethan Age.

The highest type of literary expression is poetry, and the most perfect
creation of poetic imagination is the lyric. Technically a lyric is a
song, a short poem that can be set to music. But this must be
interpreted in a wide sense, for though all the songs that are sung are
lyrics, the greater number of lyrics were never intended to be fitted to
the closer requirements of vocal harmony. They deal with all subjects
and have few requirements of form, though form is an essential element
and a matter of great importance, for to the perfection of form much of
the intense effect of the lyric is due. Like the essay the lyric is a
subjective composition; it is confessedly the expression of the poet's
personal emotion and his own experiences. His mind, his soul, speak to
us; he does not interpret the thoughts and feelings of another. The
lyric is usually contemplative and full of the choicest results of the
poet's meditations. It influences action indirectly through direct
appeals to the emotions.

Songs form a class of lyrics as varied in content as the possible
subjects in life. One might consider them as sacred and secular and
under the former recognize the psalms, which our poets have many times
rendered into metrical form, not infrequently detracting from the
sublimity of the originals. "The Lord is my Shepherd" needs no change,
no remodeling from the biblical version to make it a true lyric, but
that it may be sung to the tunes of our churches it has more than once
been paraphrased.

Hymns are religious songs expressing devout reverence for the deity,
displaying confidence and faith in the goodness of God, breathing a
prayer for help in hours of difficulty and distress, or for consolation
in the hour of affliction. Our literature is full of these noble poems,
and their lofty sentiments, clothed in beautiful words sung to the
thrilling music of other inspired composers, have been potent factors in
culture and refinement.

Secular songs are written upon nearly every conceivable topic of human
interest and are more numerous than any other form of literature, but so
many of them are inferior