Primary Sources - Eureka!
After consideration of both the topic in general and comments made on my previous post regarding the large gap in timeline, I did a little digging in the Scandinavian/Norman/Celtic department and felt much better about that so-called gap.
In fact the lyric had been obscured from its prominence in favor of the heroic tales and romances of Olde English, but only superficially. Going through numerous poems including "Beowulf" "The Wife's Complaint" and "The Battle of Maldon", elements ascribed to the conventional definition of the lyric are too found in these poems--in what would constitute the 'dark ages' as people have suggested--except more in content and voice than rhythm or meter.
This gave my timeline some consistency so I focused back on the more instrumental primary sources of the lyric poem. And that starts with the Greeks.
From the Greek world (7th-3th century B.C) I have included Archilochus’ “Epodes” as relatively definitive basis of the lyric poem.
Other primary sources I used in an attempt to span as much amount of history while still emphasizing the high water marks of the genre.
These include poems by W.B. Yeats such as "Remorse for Intemperate Speech" and "The Second Coming" to illustrate the Irish contribution and further development of the lyric poem.
This is not to mention the selection of Romantic era English poets like William Wordsworth's "Ode: Intimations of Immortality" and Percy Bysshe Shelly's "Ode to the West Wind" as examples of the lyric poem infused with a natural element, a heavy rhythmic sense, as well as psychological meditations on life and the self; hallmarks of the lyric poem.
I also tried to focus on American poets who truly inhabit the lyric form. These poets include Hart Crane and Emily Dickinson, using "The Marriage of Helen and Faustus" and "Because I could Not Stop for Death" respectively. Each of these poets, working nearly a century apart represent some of the most complex and effervescent examples of the American rendition of the lyric poem.
Ultimately, the search for primary sources was simple in comparison with research for the secondaries. When I was tasked with this genre, 10 poems immediately popped into my mind, so it was only a matter of compromising my bias and matching poems I already knew or read with a proper and consistent timeline, as well as giving a sense of the changes and lack of changes to the elusive definition of lyric poetry.
I am glad to see you were able to fill your timeline gap. I was initially surprised that you included so little from the ancient Greek, though the selection of more recent poems is replete with great examples, and believe that you have more than made up for any other Greek example you had been contemplating including. I also liked the specific inclusion of poems from different parts of the world, it gives a better perspective on the development of the genre.
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