Lyric poetry

[Leanne]

A lyric poem is an exploration of philosophy, thoughts, emotions, ideas... it is not its opposite, the narrative poem. They are by nature short, with minimal detail, rich in imagery and usually with a strong sense of meter and sound (hence 'lyric', meaning to be sung accompanied by a lyre).

We sing along to song lyrics all the time and don't demand backstory or extrapolation, so why do readers seem to need to know every detail in a poem?