What is the definition of an elegy?
The definition of an elegy is a reflective, mournful poem, typically written as an expression of sorrow for someone who has died.
Elegy
Last Updated on September 26, 2022, by eNotes Editorial. Word Count: 138
An elegy is a reflective, mournful poem, typically written as an expression of sorrow for someone who has died. In Western literature, elegies began with the Greek and Roman literary traditions, where they were written on subjects such as death, love, and war. More modern poets adopted the content, rather than the form, of the poems.
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Elegy comes to English from the Greek elegeia, derived from elegos, meaning “mournful poem.”
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The most famous elegy in the English language is Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.” Gray’s speaker reflects sorrowfully on the universality of death and the subsequent oblivion that awaits most humans:
Can storied urn or animated bust
Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust,
Or Flatt'ry soothe the dull cold ear of Death?
see: poetry
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