Monody is a kind of lyric poetry that was developed on the Aegean islands during the 6th century B.C. It differs from the other genres in the mixed metres that it uses, the use of local dialects, the thematology and the way of performance. The poets wrote verses and composed music, which they interpreted themselves by playing the lyre. Probably they were addressed to exclusive circles of friends and admirers and in certain cases only to the court of their patron. The most important representatives of this genre were Sappho and Alcaeus of Lesbos, Ibycus of Rhegium and Anacreon of Teos in Ionia. The two latter ones lived for a period in the court of Polycrates of Samos. Sappho and Alcaeus wrote in the Aeolic dialect, whereas Anacreon and Ibycus in the Ionic.

Sappho lived at the end of the 7th and during the first half of the 6th century B.C. She led an eventful life, and was banished to Sicily, for a period, with her family, which participated actively in the political life of the island. She taught music to young girls from the aristocratic families of Lesbos and Ionia. The main subject of her poems was love. With unique finesse and gentleness she displayed profound homosexual and heterosexual emotions. Sappho often created images of dreamlike beauty, that emit eroticism and bring all the senses into play. The Epithalamia were works intended for the broader public. Until the Roman period she was considered a very successful writer of love poetry. The ancient Greeks considered Alcaeus' style similar to political oratory. Undoubtedly, he was inspired by the turbulent social and political scene of Lesbos. He was descended from an aristocratic family and was banished three times, until he was forgiven by Pittacus, despite the fact that in his poems he inveighed against him as well. Besides political issues he also dealt with love, symposium and religion.

Ibycus wrote in a rich and sensitive style and praised young male beauty. Like Sappho who wrote about the girls she loved, thus Ibycus expressed his love for Euryalus with laudatory verses. Finally, Anacreon, after he participated in the colonization of Abdera, lived in the court of Polycrates in Samos, under the protection of Hipparchus in Athens and most probably in the court of Echecratidas in Thessaly. Most of his poems deal with love and wine. Without attaining the grace of Ibycus, they have a directness and a playful disposition, which made them popular for several centuries after his death.