"Lyric itself is fragmentary. Lyric does not assert a thesis, a grand narrative, or a greater purpose; that is the intention of the epic, the essay, or the novel. Rather, the lyric poem is dedicated to that which is decidedly fragmentary; lyric relies on the fleeting nature of its subject matter — emotions and subjectivities — as its object of allure. Present day forms of lyric like the pop song often literally feature fragmentary elements, such as unfinished sentences and repeated words, and they still focus on subject matter that is antithetical to the larger, grander ideas of essays and novels. Present day fragments also frequently talk about the crush. Petty, “less significant” forms of desire have always existed and been depicted in literature, of course, but the terminology of the crush grants it a certain visibility that allows us to reread and reanalyze fragmentary love poetry in ways that were not prioritized in the past."
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