What is Pastoral Elegy?
Pastoral elegy is a special kind of elegy. The word " pastoral " comes from the Greek word " pastor " which means " to graze " Hence pastoral elegy is an elegy in which the poet represents himself as a shepherd mourning the death of a fellow shepherd. The form arose among the ancient Greeks, and Theocritus Bions and Moschus were its most noted practitioners. In ancient Rome, it was used by the Latin poet Virgil.
In England, countless pastoral elegies have been written down from the Renaissance ( 16th century ) to the present day, Spenser's Astrophel, Milton's Lycidas, Shelley's Adonais and Arnold's Thyrsis and Scholar Gipsy, are the most notable examples of pastoral elegy in the English language.
The pastoral elegy is a work of art, that follows a particular convention and uses a particular imagery drawn from rural life and rural scenery. Hence it is lacking in sincerity which should be a marked feature of a poem of personal lament. Hence to was that Dr Johnson condemned the form as artificial and unnatural and said, "Where there is leisure for fiction, there is little grief. ' Elegies continue to be written in the 20th century, elegies in which the poets pour out their anxieties, frustrations and despairs.
Their number is so large that even their names cannot be mentioned in the short space at our disposal. But one thing is to be noted. The modern poet is unconventional in his use of the elegiac form, as in other matters. Auden reverses the traditional elegiac values and treats them ironically. Dylan Thomas is another such unconventional writer of elegies.
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- Plot construction of 'She Stoops to Conquer'
- English Comedy before Goldsmith
- Sentimental Comedy: Reaction of Goldsmith against it
- Character and role of Miss Neville
- Discuss She Stoops to Conquer as a Sentimental Comedy
- Discuss Goldsmith's View of Sentimental Comedy
- Give an estimate of Goldsmith as a dramatist
- Contribution of Goldsmith as a Dramatist
