Lyric poet is a genre of poetry that expresses personal and emotional feelings. In the ancient world, lyric poems were sung, accompanied by a lyre. Lyric poems do not have to rhyme, and today do not need to be set to music or a beat.Aristotle, in Poetics 1447a, mentions lyric poetry (kitharistike played to the cithara, a type of lyre) along with drama, epic poetry, dancing, painting and other forms of mimesis. The lyric poem, dating from the Romantic era, does have some thematic antecedents in ancient Greek and Roman verse, but the ancient definition was based on metrical criteria, and in archaic and classical Greek culture presupposed live performance accompanied by a stringed instrument.

Although arguably the most popular form of poetry in the Western tradition is the 14-line sonnet, either in its Petrarchan or its Shakespearean form, lyric poetry appears in a variety of forms. Other forms of the lyric include ballades,villanelles,odes, pastourelle and canzone.

Walter "Walt" Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse. His work was very controversial in its time, particularly his poetry collection Leaves of Grass, which was described as obscene for its overt sexuality.

Born on Long Island, Whitman worked as a journalist, a teacher, a government clerk, and – in addition to publishing his poetry – was a volunteer nurse during the American Civil War. Early in his career, he also produced a temperance novel, Franklin Evans (1842). Whitman's major work, Leaves of Grass, was first published in 1855 with his own money. The work was an attempt at reaching out to the common person with an American epic. He continued expanding and revising it until his death in 1892. After a stroke towards the end of his life, he moved to Camden, New Jersey, where his health further declined. He died at age 72 and his funeral became a public spectacle.

Alina Orlova (real name Alina Orlovskaya, born June 28, 1988) is a Lithuanian sung poetry singer and musician. She is of mixed Polish-Russian heritage.

Orlova both composes her own songs and performs other musicians' cover versions. She generally performs in three languages - Lithuanian, Russian and English.

Orlova's fame preceded her first studio album when she was awarded an alternative music award A.LT back in her home country, whilst at the same time also being named a "Breakthrough of the year 2006".^{[citation needed]} Her song Nesvarbu was voted by the readers of highly popular Lithuanian youth magazine Pravda as the best debut of the year.

In 2008 her debut album Laukinis šuo dingo (The Wild Dog Dingo, named after a Russian book by Ruvim Fraerman for school children about teenage love) was released under the MetroMusic label and presented in Vilnius St.Catherine church on January 22; a week later she had a similar concert in Kaunas State Drama Theatre. Later the same year Orlova held concerts in Russia, London, Liverpool. According to her fansite, she is going to perform in Poland, Ireland, participate at Europavox festival in France, and elsewhere.