WORD OF THE WEEK.
ELEGY.
I came across this word about two weeks ago when I was doing research for poetry. I had an assignment to write poems with a elegiac theme.
I’ve never come across this word before and had to read up on what it means. The word is usually related to poems, literature and also music.
I wanted to know what it means in a poetic sense.
So below are some definitions.
ELEGY /NOUN
‘a poem of serious reflection, typically a lament for the dead.’
‘ An elegy is a sad poem, usually written to praise and express sorrow for someone who is dead. … The noun elegy was borrowed in the 16th century from Middle French élégie, from Latin elegīa, from Greek elegeia, from elegos “mournful poem or song.’
ELEGIAC / ADJECTIVE
‘relating to or characteristic of an elegy.’
‘ The adjective elegiac has two possible meanings. First, it can refer to something of, relating to, or involving, anelegy or something that expresses similar mournfulness or sorrow. Second, it can refer more specifically to poetry composed in the form of elegiac couplets.’
Another definition I found on the yourdictionary.com website says the following:
‘ Generally, elegies serve to mourn the loss of a loved one; but, they can sometimes be about different types of feelings of sadness or loss of productivity as opposed to solely focusing on death.’
Below are some examples of poems with an Elegiac theme.
There are many more examples like this. What I found in my research is that some of the most famous ones are:
- In Memory of W.B. Yeats by W.H. Auden
- To An Athlete Dying Young by A.E. Housman
- Death Stands Above Me by Walter Savage Landor
- What The Living Do by Marie Howe
And many others.
Visit the link below to read up on some of them:
https://examples.yourdictionary.com/elegy-poem-examples.html
I relate a lot to these types of poetry and I plan to explore more of these. It makes me believe that I am more of a Elegiac writer / poet.
Let me leave you with this extract from In Memory of W.B. Yeats by W.H. Auden;
‘Far from his illness
The wolves ran on through the evergreen forests,
The peasant river was untempted by the fashionable quays;
By mourning tongues
The death of the poet was kept from his poems.’
-Kimberly Flanagan
