Sum—Lyric as Self-Manifestation of Language and its Ontological Power of Creation

Especially lyric calls language back to its self-manifestational function, which is more basic than its representational and discursive functions. The latter are rather functions of presence produced through self-reflection. Originarily, language is the immediate self-disclosure of being. ¹ Indeed, the lyric in its self-enclosure does not relate to its world primarily by means of codified referring so much as by means of iconic imitation, graphic and phonetic incarnation, and other ritual forms of “repetition” in which language fundamentally performs its meaning rather than just representing it. ² Already in its prosodic rhythms, lyric offers a reenactment and embodiment of being that is more immediate and concrete than any representational content or referencing of an object. ³ Lyric language often connects unconsciously with exemplars from the past and with timeless archetypes. ⁴ Language thus relates indirectly to a world outside itself, which it models and enables to become actual in linguistically determinate modes of being.