Write a note on Elegy.
Introduction:
Elegy is a song of mourning. It is a poem of lament for a person or persons. Or it is a poem of serious musing. It had its origin in ancient Greece. In English poetry, it appeared as a lament for the dead, in the Elizabethan age. It was written in the pastoral convention. In that form, the poet presented himself as a shepherd lamenting the death of another shepherd.
Then appeared in the 18th century another kind of elegy called ' personal ' elegy. In it, the poet laments the death of a person in his personal capacity. Famous Pastoral Elegies The first great pastoral elegy was written by Edmund Spenser. It is entitled " Astrophel '. It was written in 1586 to mourn the death of Sir Philip Sidney.
The second great pastoral elegy is Milton's " Lycidas ( 1637 ). Here Milton mourns the death of his friend King Edward. The third great pastoral elegy is Shelley's " Adonais " ( 1821 ). In it, he laments the death of Keats. The fourth great pastoral elegy is Arnold's " Thyrsis " ( 1867 ), in which he mourns the death of Hugh Clough. In all of these elegies, the poet starts with the death of a person. Then he gradually moves on to man's morality and general causes of his sufferings etc. He also expresses his personal feelings and his memories of the dead person.
Personal Elegy
In 1750 there appeared a new kind of elegy. It was Grey's " Elegy Written in A Country Churchyard. " Here the pastoral convention has been abandoned and a natural style has been adopted. In it the poet laments the fate of the poor village buried in a country churchyard. And he laments their lot in his personal capacity as Thomas Gray, the poet.
This elegy is the most famous of English elegies. It is looked upon as the first model of " personal; ' elegy as contrasted with the pastoral elegy. The other English elegy of this kind is Tennyson's " In Memorium " ( 1850 ). It was written by Tennyson to express his sorrow over the death of his friend Hallam.
Conclusion
To conclude, the elegy is a song of lamentation for a dead person or persons. By nature, it is a blend of lament and melancholy thoughts. Usually, it is an elegiac metre which is lambic.
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