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Definition of Elegy

An elegy is a poem or song that laments or mourns someone who has died. It typically moves through stages of grief: grief, praise of the deceased, and consolation. The Greek word "elegeia" means to lament or be sorrowful. While Greek and Roman elegies were written in irregular verse lines, modern elegies conclude with consolation. Examples include Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" and Whitman's poem mourning Abraham Lincoln.

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5K views2 pages

Definition of Elegy

An elegy is a poem or song that laments or mourns someone who has died. It typically moves through stages of grief: grief, praise of the deceased, and consolation. The Greek word "elegeia" means to lament or be sorrowful. While Greek and Roman elegies were written in irregular verse lines, modern elegies conclude with consolation. Examples include Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" and Whitman's poem mourning Abraham Lincoln.

Uploaded by

Shadab Qazi
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Elegy

Elegy is a form of literature that can be defined as a poem or song in the form of elegiac couplets, written in honor of
someone deceased. It typically laments or mourns the death of the individual.

The word elegy originated from the Greek word 'elegeia,' which means to lament or to be sorrowful. In Greek and
Roman literature, any poem which was written in elegiac meter (meant irregular hexameter and pentameter lines) was
denoted by the term 'elegy’.
An elegy usually comprises of three stages of grief which are as follows:
• Grief
• Praise of the dead
• Consolation towards the loss

In the 17th century, the term 'elegy’ meant a formal and sustained laments in verse on the demise of a specific individual
which generally concluded with a consolation.

Characteristics of an Elegy
The characteristics of a traditional elegy are as follows:
• An elegy begins with a lament of loss of life of a person or loss of a thing
• The sorrow is followed by the poet's admiration for the person or thing lost, In the second part of the construction
generally the lost person's qualities and remarkable performances or activities are endorsed.
• An elegy is a kind of a lyric which centers on expression of sentiments, beliefs or opinions.
• The language and structure of an elegy is formal and ceremonial.
• An elegy may be based on either the transience of life of a person or the attractiveness and magnificence of somebody
close to the speaker's heart.
• An elegy may search answers to questions related to the nature of life and death of the body or immorality of the soul.
• Sometimes an elegy also expresses the speaker's resentment or rage about a loss or demise.
●The last or the third stage of the elegy is about its consolidation. This element may be more religious
• It is of various types such as personal, impersonal or pastoral.

Types of Elegy
1. Pastoral Elegy
●of or belonging to the life of shepherds
●of or pertaining to rural life
●having the simplicity and serenity attributed to rural areas
Pastoral elegy is a poem which dwells upon the combined subject of death and sublime country life. This form of poetry
usually includes shepherds who express their emotions. The pastoral elegy takes the pastoral or rural components and
connects them to expression of sorrow on a loss.
2. Personal Elegy - In a personal elegy the poet laments the death of some close friend or relative,
3. Impersonal Elegy - In impersonal elegy in which the poet grieves over human destiny or over some aspect of
contemporary life and literature..

Examples of Elegy in Literature


1. Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard - By Thomas Gray, 1750
2. Walt Whitman – When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Blooms
3. Alfred Lord Tennyson- In memoriam (Aurthur Henry Hallam)

Dr. Shadab Qazi ( English Lecturer & Ph.D. Scholar ) DEV CLASSES BUNDI - 8769368787 Page 1
4. Edmund Spenser – Astrophel ( Sir Philip Sydney)
5. W.H. Auden – In Memory of W.B. Yeats

Pastoral Elegy
6. John Milton – Lycidas ( King Edward)
7. Matthew Arnold – Thyrsis ( Aurthur Hugh Clough)
8. P.B. Shelly – Adonais ( John Keats )
Example 1.
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

Explanation: Thomas Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard was written in the memory of his friend, Richard
West, is a very well-known example of elegy. The poet laments on the death of his poet friend. He contemplates on the
inevitability of life and death consigns all men irrespective of their class and all people are destined towards a fate of
oblivion.

Example 2: O Captain! My Captain! - By Walt Whitman, 1891

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,


The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:

Explanation: Walt Whitman's famous poem, O Captain! My Captain is an elegy written in memory of the American
President, Abraham Lincoln. In this brilliant piece of work, the poet beautifully brings together a sense of forfeiture,
admiration, and comfort in the very first stanza of the elegy. The subject matter provides a comfort to the readers and yet
at the same time, it fills ones heart with grief and sadness as it deals with the demise of Abraham Lincoln.

1. Which of the following statements is the best elegy definition?


A. A poem of praise and joy.
B. A mournful lament of a dead person.
C. A two-line form of alternating hexameter and pentameter verse.

2. Which of the following is not a stage of loss that an elegy deals with?
A. Grief
B. Solace
C. Indifference

3. How is the contemporary definition of elegy different from the ancient Greek definition?
A. Elegies since the sixteenth century have solely dealt with loss and lament, while Greek elegies could have a wide
range of themes.
B. Modern elegies are only written with elegiac couplets, while Greek elegies were free form.
C. There is no difference between the ancient Greek definition of elegy and the more modern one.

Dr. Shadab Qazi ( English Lecturer & Ph.D. Scholar ) DEV CLASSES BUNDI - 8769368787 Page 2

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