Elegy

Elegy, in classical poetry, lyric poem of alternate 2-line stanzas written in a distinctive meter. In English, an elegy is a poem expressing sorrow, particularly about death, such as John Milton's “Lycidas” (1637), Thomas Gray's “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” (1750), and Percy Bysshe Shelley's “Adonais” (1821).