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.

The Victorian Spirit/ Pre-Raphaelites in English

The Victorian age is named after Queen Victoria who reigned over England from 1837 to 1901. It should be noticed that though Queen Victoria came to power in 1837, the Victorian period began in 1832, five years before the accession of Queen Victoria, because the literary feature of the age became obvious after 1832.

The twelve years, from 1848 to 1860, of this age is called the Age of the Pre-Raphaelites because the artists of that time followed the art forms used before the period of Raphael, the Italian artist. D.G. Rossetti, W.H. Hunt, and J. Millais formed this group and later on Christine Rossetti, W. Morris, and A. Swinburne joined them. Originally, it was a movement for the painters but eventually these ideals took the shape of a literary movement. Medievalism, symbolism, sensuousness, truthfulness, and simplicity are the main features of the Pre-Raphaelites. The poetry of the Pre-Raphaelite school is marked with a spirit of revolt, love of the middle age, picture of beauty, love of the supernaturalism, love of the music and melody and so on. Theme of spiritual glory is one of the most important elements in the Pre-Raphaelites. Browning presents the spiritual perfection of art through his poetry whereas Rossetti is an important poet of sensuousness and pictorial reality.

The period from 1880 to 1901 is called the age of Aestheticism and Decadence because there was a fall and decay of the Victorian spirit and standard in those years. In reaction against the Victorian moral obsession it was held that art should have its end in itself which lies in its beauty and formal perfection. The major works of the Victorian Age/Spirit are Tennyson’s “In Memoriam”, Browning’s “Men and Women”, Charles Dickens’ “David Copperfield”, William Thackeray’s “Vanity Fair”, Charles Darwin’s “The Origin of Species”, and so on.