Elegy in English Literature

In Greek and Roman literature “elegy” denoted any poem written in elegiac metre. The term was also used to referring to the subjects and moods frequently expressed in the elegiac verse form, especially complaints about love. In Europe and England, the term continued to have a variable application through the Renaissance. For example, John Donne’s Elegies are love poems. In the course of the seventeenth century, however, the term began to be limited to its present usage: a lament lyric of mourning or an utterance of personal bereavement and sorrow and therefore it should be characterized by absolute sincerity of emotion and expression. In the evolution of literature, the elegy has achieved a great elaboration and has expanded in many directions. It has grown into a memorial poem which contains the poet’s tribute to some great men and often a study of his life and character, as in Spenser’s Astrophel, Milton’s Lycidas. Often the philosophic and speculative elements become predominant in it. Tennyson’s “In Memoriam” is one of the most frankly personal of elegies a large tribute to the dead friend, a spiritual autobiography extending over some three years of intellectual struggle, and a poem of philosophy.

The elegy in modern literature has often been used as a vehicle for literary criticism. One particular type of elegy is the pastoral elegy, in which the poet expresses his sorrow under the mask of a shepherd mourning for a company. This type of elegy is originated among the Sicilian Greeks. It passes into modern European literatures during the Renaissance. It has often been employed by English poets from Spencer to Matthew Arnold. Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is one of the most famous pastoral elegies.

Conceit in English Literature

Conceit is now one of the most important literary figures used properly by the different writers. Especially the meta-physical poets immensely use conceits in their writings. It is an elaborate, extended, and striking comparison between two dissimilar things. It is such kind of comparison whose ingenuity is more important than its justness. It surprises its readers by its intellectual quality. The love poets of the sixteenth century employed conceits in their sonnets. However, conceit was particularly associated by the Metaphysical poets of the seventeenth century. These poets derived the elements of comparison from all sources of knowledge including philosophy, science, geography, and religion. Conceit is a fanciful image especially elaborated or startled with analogy. It can be used for various purposes such as glorifying, satiring, describing, making parody, and so on. For example, we see the satirized manner of such conceits, Shelly rather made parody by saying “Mistress” eyes are nothing like the sun, Choral is far more red than her lips red. In John Donne’s and Andrew Marvell’s poems, there are full of intellectual conceits. This conceits are extended or starling or dramatic between objects which are apparently dissimilar

Metaphysical conceit is the conceit on subjects which exist beyond the physical world. In other words, it is a type of conceit which deals with abstract or philosophical subjects. But in reality, conceit which has the following features is called metaphysical conceit:
a) Physical love leading to spiritual union or religious devotion as theme.
b) Argumentative presentation of emotion.
c) An analysis of the most delicate shade of psychological experience.
d) A fusion of emotion and intellect which is also called the unification of sensibilities.

In John Donne’s “The Good Morrow”, the speaker asks:
“Where can we find two better hemispheres


Without Sharp North, without declining West?”
The idea is that the lovers together make one world, each being a hemisphere. But unlike the real hemispheres, the lovers’ have no limitation- their love has no decay and destruction. Thus, this is an example of Metaphysical conceit.