Lyric Reading and Empathy

Abstract Numerous studies on lyric poetry have considered formalist questions, speakers or historical contexts. The act and the action of reading, however, were less often explored. Thus, the following questions arise: Is there a lyric reading? What are the reader’s motivations? Does the same logic apply to narrative, satirical and didactic poems? How can it be described? This article outlines the many problems which the heterogeneity of poetry is likely to generate. It further intends to examine how the notion of »empathy« could help to actualize this specific way of reading. Based on recent research on intentionality and empathy, this paper makes apparent some of the general principles for a holistic theory of lyric, which enables to link poetics, psychology and anthropology.