Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online

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Elegy
(1,056 words)

1. Definition and ancient history

The elegy is a form of lyric text (Poetry) that can be defined in terms of form, content, and discourse mode. The multifaceted development history of the genre, however, precludes a single, all-encompassing definition.

Ancient Greek literature already had two traditions. Elegeía was a poem in elegiac distichs (distichon: a couplet, consisting of one hexameter followed by a pentameter), while élegos was a lament with flute accompaniment, sung in any m…

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Böhm, Elisabeth, “Elegy”, in: Encyclopedia of Early Modern History Online, Editors of the English edition: Graeme Dunphy, Andrew Gow. Original German Edition: Enzyklopädie der Neuzeit. Im Auftrag des Kulturwissenschaftlichen Instituts (Essen) und in Verbindung mit den Fachherausgebern herausgegeben von Friedrich Jaeger. Copyright © J.B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung und Carl Ernst Poeschel Verlag GmbH 2005–2012. Consulted online on 19 March 2024 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/2352-0272_emho_COM_018671>
First published online: 2015
First print edition: 20170626



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