The next time you open a fortune cookie, read your fortune aloud and add "...in a misty churchyard."

It's good fun! It gives your fortune an elegiac air: a dark, moody, somber, melancholic air. Check it out:

"It is a good time to finish up old tasks in a misty churchyard."

"Your success will astonish everyone in a misty churchyard." 

"Your infinite capacity for patience will be rewarded sooner or later in a misty churchyard." 

Hmm, a little unsettling, right? 

Enough silliness: let's get down to business in a misty churchyard. You might be familiar with the 1751 poem "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard," by Thomas Gray, featuring dusk, weariness, solemnity, bittersweet memories of days gone by, parting souls, and, maybe, haunted cows. It's an elegy (a poem of mourning) for all of humankind. I mention it because it's so beloved and so influential that it actually shaped the meaning of the word elegy, which started out meaning "a poem that mourns a death" but can now also mean "any artistic expression of mourning" as well as "a serious, contemplative poem about anything."

See if you can recall two synonyms of elegy:

1. A p___nt is a sad, sorrowful complaint or outcry. Hint: it's just one syllable.

2. A d____ is a sad song or an expression of love and mourning. Hint: Don McLean sang them in the dark the day the music died. 

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) 

The word "elegy" traces back through French and Latin to the Greek elegos, meaning "a song or poem of sad mourning."

That's what "elegy" means in English, too. In a strict sense, an elegy is a poem or a song that expresses sadness about something or someone who's died.

In fact, if you want to get extra-strict about it, an elegy is a mournful poem that's specifically written in quatrains of iambic pentameter. That means it's written in stanzas of four lines, with each line made up of five iambs. (Iambs are those little 2-syllable units where the first syllable is unaccented and the second is accented, creating that iconic Shakespearean rhythm, as in "Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife.")

In a looser sense, an elegy is any piece of art or writing with a sad, serious, contemplative mood.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Noun, the countable kind: "It sounds like an elegy;" "He published many elegies."

Other forms: 

The plural is "elegies."

The verb is rare: "elegize."

The adjective is "elegiac." Say it like this: "ELL uh JYE uck." Hear it here.

What about "eulogy;" is that another form of "elegy"? That would be a good guess: they're closely related in meaning, and they both trace back to Greek words. But, at least as far as their literal meanings go, a eulogy is much more likely to be a speech given at a funeral, while an elegy is much more likely to be a poem or a song; also, a eulogy is more likely to focus on praise for the subject, while an elegy is more likely to focus on the sadness that the subject's passing causes. In figurative uses, their meanings are much closer.

how to use it:

Pick the word "elegy," instead of similar words like "dirge," "tribute," "lament," or "requiem," when you want to say that something seems like a poetic, elegant, artistic, heartfelt, and mournful goodbye.

You might say that something (like a poem, a song, a story, a show, or movie) is an elegy to or for someone or something. "Taylor Swift's song 'Never Grow Up' is an elegy to her childhood."

examples:

"'Fallen City'... [follows] three families devastated by the earthquake... But it's also an elegy for the former Beichuan, once a picturesque town nestled along a riverbank."
   — Mike Hale, New York Times, 27 July 2014

"Black Friday began as gray Friday in Washington, but as the hours passed, it became a bright warm Friday... The temperature and the afternoon sunshine almost seemed an orange-tinted elegy for the inexorable passing of warmer times."
   — Martin Well, Washington Post, 25 November 2022

has this page helped you understand "elegy"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "elegy" without saying "a poem of sad goodbyes" or "a knell."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Some song, poem, book, show, or other creation) is an elegy to (some person or thing)."

Example: "The 1982 song 'Empty Garden' is an elegy to John Lennon."

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for January: "Is That a Real Word?"

In each issue, I’ll give you three, um, written phenomena. You decide if each is a real word—and most importantly—why or why not. If someone were to dispute your judgment, how would you defend it? For fun, try comparing your responses with a companion’s. And if you like, you can compare yours with mine, which I’ll list at the bottom of the issue.

Try these today:  Out of "peoples," "ginormous," and "capisce," which, if any, are real words?

review this word:

1. The opposite of an elegy could be a poem that celebrates _____.

A. a birth
B. a failure
C. a manmade object

2. Referring to a brutal poem by Robert Frost, Thomas C. Foster says it's anything but "a classical elegy in which all nature _____."

A. weeps
B. glimmers
C. bends toward justice

Answers to the review questions: 1. A 2. A Let's compare notes from the game: I say they're all real words! "Peoples:" Yeah, it does sound funny if you aren't used to it! But it means "nations," and it's been used that way in print for ages. It's even in the Bible. "Ginormous:" I feel a bit childish when I use it. But it's well-established slang, dating back to 1942. "Capisce:" I'm pretty sure I first heard this on Full House way back in the day! Just now, though, I didn't know how to spell it until I checked. ("Kapeesh"?) Anyway, yes, it's a real word with a place in American English dictionaries. It's slang borrowed from Italian, so it's very informal and maybe a bit cringe these days, like shouting "Olé!" in a Spanish restaurant when you aren't Spanish.

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.