The term ‘lyric’ (λυρικός) is derived from λύρα, ‘lyre’. As a designation of a category of poetry it is not found before the Hellenistic period [...] Its use in the ancient world was more precise than the terms 'lyric' and 'lyrical' as now used with reference either to modern or to ancient poetry. Though the term was extended to poetry sung to other stringed instruments or to the flute, it is always used of sung poetry as distinct from stichic, distichic (elegy included), or epodic poems which were recited or spoken. [...] The modern definition of lyric (verse neither epic nor dramatic but characterized by brevity, use of stanzas, and the enthusiastic expression of personal experience and emotion) would have meant little in Roman antiquity. Greek lyric could be defined by the social settings of its performance, the accompaniment of the lyre, and the use of certain metrical patterns.