Poems should be read out loud and listened to. It is then that they reveal their innate musical quality. No matter what language a poem is written in and no matter where it is read in the world, it is immediately recognizable as a poem, as language fashioned into a distinctive structure, as a concert of words.

lyrikline.org has successfully addressed the seemingly impossible task of linking poetry, the oldest literary art form there is, with the newest form of communication, the Internet. At the push of a button it is now possible to listen to poems read by the author in his or her native tongue.
When spoken by the human voice, the sound, melody and rhythm of a poem are transformed into music.

Needless to say, poems are related to the real world and have their own inherent meaning. You can also read them in translation as you would do in a multilingual anthology.

To access the poems on lyrikline.org you can use the alphabetical list of authors or, if you prefer, the different languages and editions on which lyrikline.org is based: Contemporary Poetry, The Audible Legacy, Poetry for Children and Visual Poetry.

lyrikline.org also provides information on the authors and their works, news, a visitors' book, a collection of international links and search functions.

lyrikline.org was launched in November 1999 as a work-in-progress project. New authors appear regularly on the platform and we are doing our best to ensure that more and more poems become available in more and more languages as time goes on.

Are you keen to find out more about the background, the sponsors and partners of the lyrikline? Would you like to make an entry in the visitors' book? Do you have any questions?

We very much hope you enjoy your visit.