Elegy Poetry
Top Elegy Poems
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
by Thomas Gray
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea...
Gray's masterpiece reflects on mortality and the uncelebrated lives of common folk, emphasizing the universality of death.
O Captain! My Captain!
by Walt Whitman
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, The ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won...
Whitman's tribute to Abraham Lincoln mourns the fallen leader while celebrating his accomplishments.
Adonais
by Percy Bysshe Shelley
Peace, peace! he is not dead, he doth not sleep— He hath awakened from the dream of life...
Shelley's elegy honors fellow poet John Keats, blending personal grief with philosophical musings on death and immortality.
When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd
by Walt Whitman
When lilacs last in the dooryard bloom’d, And the great star early droop’d in the western sky in the night...
Another of Whitman's elegies for Lincoln, this poem uses rich symbolism to process national grief.
On My First Sonne
by Ben Jonson
Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy; My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy...
Jonson's heartfelt lament for his son's death captures the raw pain of parental loss.