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An elegy is a poem that reflects on death or loss and expresses mourning, sorrow, or lamentation. Learn about the origin, structure, and common themes of elegy, and see examples from famous poets such as Whitman, Gray, and Shelley.
Elegy Definition. What is an elegy? Here’s a quick and simple definition: An elegy is a poem of serious reflection, especially one mourning the loss of someone who died. Elegies are defined by their subject matter, and don't have to follow any specific form in terms of meter, rhyme, or structure. Some additional key details about elegies:
Aug 16, 2021 · Language has the power to honor, revere, express mourning, and even to heal. In poetry, these sentiments are frequently articulated in a poetic form known as an elegy.
Elegy, meditative lyric poem lamenting the death of a public personage or of a friend or loved one; by extension, any reflective lyric on the broader theme of human mortality. In classical literature an elegy was simply any poem written in the elegiac metre (alternating lines of dactylic hexameter.
Elegy (which may be traced to the Greek word elegos, “song of mourning”) commonly refers to a song or poem lamenting one who is dead; the word may also refer somewhat figuratively to a nostalgic poem, or to a kind of musical composition.
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.”
The elegy is a form of poetry in which the poet or speaker expresses grief, sadness, or loss. History of the Elegy Form. The elegy began as an ancient Greek metrical form and is traditionally written in response to the death of a person or group.
