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Mar 31, 2017 · The Oxford English Dictionary defines an elegy as ‘A song or poem of lamentation, esp. for the dead; a memorial poem’. Death, and memorialising the dead, has long been a feature of poetry. Here are ten of the best elegies from English poetry, from the Middle Ages to the 1980s.
Elegies are a wonderful example of the ways in which poetry can serve a more personal and emotional purpose for the poet, as many poets throughout history have written elegies not only to commemorate a lost loved one, but as a way of mourning and of processing their own grief.
Examples of Elegy in Literature. As a poetic device, the artistic language of elegy allows writers to express honor, reverence, mourning, and even solace. Poets utilize elegy to reflect upon and memorialize the death of important historical figures or their own personal losses.
An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, usually a lament for the dead. Its origins trace back to traditional Greek literature, where it was a mournful poem or song. While elegies often mourn a person’s death, they can also express a melancholic sentiment over other forms of loss.
Aug 12, 2021 · An elegy poem captures the memory of someone with the beauty of words and poetry. Appreciate those lost with these renowned elegy poem examples.
Examples of Elegiac Poems. Example #1 The Truth the Dead Know by Anne Sexton. ‘The Truth the Dead Know’ by Anne Sexton is a four stanza confessional elegy. As this poem is ‘confessional” in nature, it speaks to something personal. In this case, it is dedicated to the lives and deaths of the poet’s parents.
Elegy. In traditional English poetry, it is often a melancholy poem that laments its subject’s death but ends in consolation. Examples include John Milton’s “Lycidas”; Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s “In Memoriam”; and Walt Whitman’s “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd.”
