POETRY : THE ELEGY
An elegy is a lyric of mourning or a direct utterance of personal loss and sorrow. Elegy comes from the word 'elegeid' which in Greek means a 'lament'. The Greeks judged an elegy by its form and it included war songs, lamentations, love poems and political verses. The only restriction was that the elegy should be written in the elegiac metre.
In modern usage the theme is more important in the elegy than the form. It should be mournful and reflective. It is usually a lamentation for the dead though it may be inspired by some other sombre theme. Any hint of artificiality destroys the essence of an elegy.
Most elegies grow into an memorial poems containing the poet's tribute to the dead person and a study of his life and character. Milton's 'Lycidus' - a pastoral elegy on the death of Milton's university friend Edward King, Tennyson's 'In Memoriam' - laments the untimely death of Tennyson's friend Arthur Hallam and Arnold's 'Rugby Chapel' - mourns the death of Arnold's father, are such elegies.
Gray's famous 'Elegy written in a Country Churchyard' is distinctly reflective in character with a pronounced melancholy strain. It does not mourn the death of any person but expresses sorrow at the fate of men who die in obscurity, unwept and unsung.
An acute sense of loss, a delicacy of feeling and a melancholy strain are the outstanding features of an elegy.
In some elegies the poet not only laments the death of the dear one but also includes some criticism of his literary work. Such elegies are called as Critical Elegies. Some examples of critical elegies are Sir William Watson's 'Wordsworth's Grave' and Arnold's 'Heine's Grave'.
Another type of elegy is the Pastoral Elegy in which the poet expresses his sorrow under the guise of a shepherd mourning for his companion. This form originated from the Sicilian Greeks probably with poet Theocritus. In Latin, poet Virgil perfected this form of elegy. Later it passed on to the English poetry during the Renaissance. Here the manner of speech and setting are borrowed from rustic life.
Few most well-known pastoral elegies in English are Spenser's 'Astrophel', Milton's 'Lycidas' and Arnold's 'The Scholar Gipsy' and 'Thyrsis'.
Here's an example of elegy poem which we all would have come across - Walt Whitman's 'O Captain! My Captain!' which was written in the memory of Abraham Lincoln.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;
From fearful trip, the victor ship, comes in with object won;
Exult, O shores, and ring, O bells!
But I, with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
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