Elegy

An elegy is a poem that is primarily defined by its tone and thematic content. More specifically, its tone is serious, and its thematic content is dark, usually addressing the subject of death or the dead. More technically, an elegy could be defined by its specific poetic meter. However, this technical meaning is no longer really in use today. An elegy essentially just refers to a sad and serious poem. 

The meaning

Traditionally composed to be a mournful response to a person’s death, elegies are popular funeral songs. An elegy can sometimes refer to a particularly somber piece of musical work. Popular elegies include vocal songs, piano compositions, and pieces for an entire orchestra. 

With origins in ancient Greece, elegies are similar to eulogies, epitaphs, and odes, but distinct: eulogies are usually structured speeches written in formal prose; epitaphs are much briefer, with only a few lines; and odes express mere adoration.

Elegies are reflective and pensive, expressing emotion and nostalgia for the person who has passed. They are usually intimate and personal, written by someone who had been close to the person who passed. Deep and meditative, they are rich in emotional sentiment. 

Creating an elegy

Traditional elegies often follow three distinct steps. The first step is the lament. During this phase, the speaker expresses their sorrow and grief over the passing of the subject. This is the speaker’s chance to communicate their pain and melancholia. Next, the speaker praises the person’s accomplishments and attributes, almost idealizing them. Finally, the speaker offers condolences and solace to other mourners. These three steps can be recognized in this expert from the elegy In Memory of W.B. Yeats by W.H. Auden:

“With the farming of a verse

Make a vineyard of the curse,

Sing a human unsuccess

In a rapture of distress;

In the deserts of the heart

Let the healing fountain start,

In the prison of his days

Teach the free man how to praise.”

Not every elegy, however, has to express sadness over a person’s death. Others can describe overwhelming feelings of loss or sadness. For example, the start of the poem Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke says:

“If I cried out

Who would hear me up there

Among the angelic orders?

And suppose one suddenly

Took me to his heart

I would shrivel.”

Origins of the elegy

As previously mentioned, elegies are written in elegiac couplet. This poetic form was used by poets from ancient Greece and later grew popular in Rome, where they become accustomed to the elegiac couplet in Latin. Every couplet in an elegy is composed of a hexameter verse, which is followed by a pentameter verse. 

The term ‘elegy’ comes from the Greek word elegeia, meaning ‘lament’. The word originally applied to any verses written in elegiac couplets. They could be about anything; love, sorrow, war, loss, etc. In ancient Roman literature, elegies usually contained elements of mythology and erotica. Its structure makes the style work extremely well for rhetoric, thus it was used by poets of Rome and Greece to express satirical or humorous subject matter. 

In modern English literature, it is typically restricted to the lament of a lost loved one or a terrible event. However, previous to the seventeenth century, it was still a popular verse used in its broader context. The Old English Exeter Book, written around the year 1000, is very meditative and reflective. It contains well known poem such as “The Wife’s Lament” and “The Wanderer”. In these works, the speaker uses the term “I” to personify their mourning and personal pain. The style of these elegies makes them more personally relatable to a wide range of audience members. Poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge described elegies as a sort of meditative poem:

“Elegy is a form of poetry natural to the reflective mind. 

It may treat of any subject, but it must treat of no subject 

for itself; but always and exclusively with reference to the 

poet. As he will feel regret for the past or desire for the future.”