This paper traces the genesis of the term lyrical persona and focuses on its relevance for contemporary literary studies. It follows its historical and recent discussions by German and Czech literary theorists who established and defined the term during the 20th century.
The concluding part contains a comparison of the current conceptions of lyrical persona in Miroslav Červenka (2003) and Jörg Schönert (2004). Červenka treats this subject from the perspective of the theory of fictional worlds, whereas Schönert rejects this category entirely and suggests a new set of terms common both to the theory of literary narratives and theory of poetry.