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elegy

el·e·gy [ élləjee ] (plural el·e·gies)

noun

Definition:

1. mournful poem: a mournful or reflective poem

2. poem in elegiac couplets or stanzas: a poem written in elegiac couplets or stanzas

3. music musical lament for dead person: an instrumental piece, or setting for a song, composed as a lament for somebody who has died

[Early 16th century. Directly or via French< Latin elegia< Greek elegos "song"]

Cultural Note


	Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, a poem (1750) by British writer Thomas Gray. Inspired by a churchyard at Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, England, it is a reflection on rural life, human ambitions, friendship, and mortality. It is considered the masterpiece of the "graveyard" school of literature, which was popular in the 1740s and 1750s.

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