El'e-gy, n.

n. [Lat. elegia, Gr. ἐλεγεία, sing., and ἐλεγεῖα, pl. of ἐλεγεῖον, a distich consisting of a hexameter and a pentameter, the meter of the elegy, properly, neut. of ἐλεγεῖος, elegiac, from ἔλεγος, a song of mourning, a lament, from ἐλέγειν, to cry woe! woe!] A mournful or plaintive poem; a funeral song; a poem or a song expressive of sorrow and lamentation.

Elegy is the form of poetry natural to the reflective mind. It may treat of any subject, but it must treat of no subject for itself, but always and exclusively with reference to the poet himself. Coleridge.