What is an elegy?I want the definition of an elegy?

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tinicraw eNotes educator| Certified Educator

An elegy is a type of poem that is sad, melancholy or mournful. Sometimes poets and/or songwriters would put music to sad lyrics and perform them at funerals as an homage to the one who had died. These songs brought peace to those who mourned the loss of the loved one. Other elegies are those of self-reflection about a misdeed or mishap that might have occurred. Images and symbols used in elegies might seem dark and sad like one walking through a cemetery or churchyard as in Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard." Or, the setting of the poem might be during the autumn or winter time to present a sense of death as in "Elegy IX: The Autumnal" by John Donne. The links below can take you to examples of these poems as well as others. Reading the types of poems that you are studying is a good way to be able to understand them better.

eli468 | Student

Elegy is a type of poetic form. It originated from ancient Greek writing," in response to the death of a person or group." Most people think of a eulogy when thinking of a piece of writing in response to a death. However they are different. 

Traditional elegy poems tend to depict three stages of loss; lament, praise and admiration, and consolation and solace. 

Nowadays elegies can be written in terms of just a sadness rather than a grief or death of a person. 

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