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What is an Elegy poem?
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Elegy is a noun that refers to a poem or song expressing sorrow or lamentation for one who is dead, or something resembling such a poem or song. It also means a pensive or reflective poem or musical composition. Learn the synonyms, etymology, history, and examples of elegy from the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
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What is an elegy? Here’s a quick and simple definition: Some additional key details about elegies: 1. Because elegies focus on the emotional experience of the poet, they are generally written in the first person. 2. Typically, elegies end on a somewhat hopeful note, with the poet reconciling him- or herself to the death, and ultimately discovering ...
Elegy: "The Wanderer"
This is an Old English poem by an unknown author, translated here into modern English. The poem, written in the voice of a wanderer who was once a nobleman but was forced out of his homeland by war, is an elegy in the broader sense of a "serious, meditative poem" rather than a lament for the dead. It is about brokenness, loss, and the passage of time, rather than about any one person's death in particular.
Tennyson's "In Memoriam"
The following oft-quoted stanza is from Alfred Lord Tennyson's "In Memoriam," perhaps the most famous elegy of all time. This excerpt is yet another demonstration of the tendency in elegy to seek, through the writing of the poem, a sense of consolation in grief.
Wordsworth's "Elegiac Stanzas"
The full title of this poem by the Romantic poet William Wordsworth is "Elegiac Stanzas Suggested by a Picture of Peele Castle in a Storm, Painted by Sir George Beaumont." The poem was supposedly written in the wake of Wordsworth's brother's death. In keeping with the poem's form of elegiac stanzas, the rhyme scheme is ABAB and the meter is iambic pentameter.
Unlike the classical traditions of epic poetry or medieval ballads, both of which use the third person to focus on figures from popular mythology and folklore, elegies are a deeply personal form of poetry that typically make use of the first person to emphasize the private emotional experiences of individuals. Elegies are a wonderful example of the...
The 19th century Swiss composer Louis Niedermeyer set Lamartine's elegy Le Lacto music, capturing the doleful spirit of the form.Elegy presents every thing as lost and gone or absent and future. A famous example of elegy is Thomas Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1750). Other languages. In French, perhaps the most famous elegy is Le Lac (1820) by Alphonse de Lamartine. In Germany, the most famous example is Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke (1922).
An elegy is a poetic form that laments the death of a person or reflects on human mortality. Learn about the different types, conventions and examples of elegies in classical and modern literature.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
An elegy is a form of poetry in which the poet or speaker expresses grief, sadness, or loss. It originated from the ancient Greek metrical form and is traditionally written in response to the death of a person or group. Learn about the history, elements, and examples of this poetic genre.
An elegy is a form of poetry that typically reflects on death or loss. Learn about the history, structure, and examples of elegy as a poetic device and a literary form. Explore the themes of elegy, such as mourning, grief, memory, and redemption, and the difference between elegy and other poetic terms like dirge and eulogy.
An elegy is a melancholy poem that laments the death of a loved one or a cherished object. It often ends in consolation or resolution. Learn about the history, examples, and types of elegy from John Milton to Peter Sacks.
