Zeitstrukturen im Gedicht

The lyric is often associated with an attempt to escape from time into stasis or eternity and is juxtaposed as atemporal to the temporal dynamics of (narrative or dramatic) plot. Resisting such common attributions, this paper develops an analytical framework that highlights the complexity and variety of temporal structures to be found in poetry. Understood as a contribution to the growing field of lyricology, the suggested framework aims to be widely applicable to poetry in general, but is here introduced and exemplified with reference to poems by Rainer Maria Rilke.