A Promise (Over)Heard in Lyric

This paper attempts to revise the received definition that lyric is "an utterance overheard" by exploring the dual meaning of the prefix "over." More than an eavesdropper, the reader who is assumed to hear nothing but having heard too much of the speaker's monologue, is also expected to be hearing his words over and over again. One prominent subject matter in lyric that actually stands the test of repeated hearing is the pledge taken by the speaker. In such situations, a lyric poem is in fact presenting a triangular or quadriangular communication circuit where an addressee and other witness-participants are present. The reader is invited to play one of these creatively determinant roles in the speech act of a promise. By a comparative study of lyric poetry, the discussion will show that it is the performative aspects of lyric that explain the intense engaging power of the genre across cultures.