Elegy Definition and Characteristics

Elegy Definition

The word โ€˜elegyโ€™ comes from the Greek word โ€˜elegosโ€™ meaning โ€˜songโ€™. An elegy is a mournful poem about the death of a person or more rarely a group. Elegy can also express a feeling of loss in a broader sense, such as for a way of life or reflection of human morality.

Characteristics

  1. It is a type of lyric & focuses on expressing emotions or thoughts.
  2. It uses formal language & structure.
  3. It may mourn the passing of life & beauty or someone dear to the speaker.
  4. It may explore questions about nature of life & death or immorality of soul.
  5. It may express the speakerโ€™s anger about death.

An elegy is not same as a โ€˜eulogyโ€™ which is a statement written in prose that is read aloud at a funeral, although an elegy might serve as a eulogy. Three elements are found in a traditional elegy-

  1. Firstly, it begins with mourn, a grief at the loss of something or someone.
  2. In the second stage, the poet shows admiration, listing qualities & impressive deeds in the personโ€™s lifetime.
  3. The poem then moves to the third stage of consolidation. This last element may be more religious.

An elegy may be of different kinds-personal, impersonal or pastoral. Pastoral elegy represents both the poet & the one he mourns for-who is usually also a poet-as Shepherds. In Pastoral Elegies like โ€˜Lycidasโ€™, Milton mourns in the grief of a shepherd.