Elegiac couplets are a poetic form used by Greek lyric poets for a variety of themes usually of smaller scale than those of epic poetry. The ancient Romans frequently used elegiac couplets in love poetry, as in Ovid's Amores. Publius Ovidius Naso ( March 20, 43 BC – 17 AD was a Roman poet known to the English -speaking world as Ovid who wrote on many topics including As with heroic couplets, the couplets are usually self-contained and express a complete idea. A heroic couplet is a traditional form for English Poetry, commonly used for epic and Narrative poetry; it refers to poems constructed from a
Elegiac couplets consist of alternating lines of dactylic hexameter and pentameter: two dactyls followed by a long syllable, a caesura, then two more dactyls followed by a long syllable. Dactylic Hexameter (also known as "heroic hexameter" is a form of meter in poetry or a rhythmic scheme In Poetry, a pentameter is a line of verse consisting of five metrical feet. A dactyl (Gr δάκτυλος dáktulos, “finger” is a type of meter in poetry. In Linguistics, syllable weight is the concept that syllables pattern together according to the number and/or duration of segments in the rime. In meter, caesura (alternative spellings are cæsura or cesura) is a term to denote an audible pause that breaks up a line of verse
The following is a graphic representation of its scansion. A system of scansion is a way to mark the metrical patterns of a line of Poetry. Note that - is a long syllable, u a short syllable, and U either one long or two shorts:
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- - U | - U | - U | - U | - u u | - -
- - U | - U | - || - u u | - u u | -
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The form was felt by the ancients to contrast the rising action of the first verse with a falling quality in the second. The sentiment is summarized by a line from Ovid's Amores I. Amores is Ovid 's first completed book published in 16 BC. Amores was written in the elegiac distich. 1. 27 Sex mihi surgat opus numeris, in quinque residat - "Let my work surge in six feet, quiet down in five. " The effect is further illustrated by the following English example written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge:
- In the Hexameter rises the fountain's silvery column,
- In the pentameter aye falling in melody back. Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( 21 October 1772 &ndash 25 July 1834) was an English Poet, Critic and philosopher Hexameter is a literary and poetic form consisting of six metrical feet per line as in the Iliad. In Poetry, a pentameter is a line of verse consisting of five metrical feet.
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Greek origins
The elegiac couplet is presumed to be the oldest Greek form of epodic poetry (a form where a later verse is sung in response or comment to a previous one). Scholars theorize the form was originally used in Ionian dirges, with the name "elegy" derived from the Greek ε, λεγε ε, λεγε - "Woe, cry woe, cry!" Hence, the form was used initially for funeral songs, typically with a flute as accompaniment. Archilochus expanded use of the form to treat other themes, such as war, travel, or homespun philosophy. For the Hummingbird Genus, see Archilochus. Archilochus ( Greek:) (c Between Archilochus and other imitators, the verse form became a common poetic vehicle for conveying any strong emotion.
At the end of the 7th century BCE, Mimnermus of Colophon struck on the innovation of using the verse for erotic poetry. He composed several elegies celebrating his love for the flute girl Nanno, and though fragmentary today his poetry was clearly influential in the later Roman development of the form. Propertius, to cite one example, notes Plus in amore valet Mimnermi versus Homero - "The verse of Mimnermus is stronger in love than Homer". Sextus Aurelius Propertius was a Latin elegiac poet born around 50-45 BCE in Mevania (although other cities in the region of Umbria claim
The form continued to be popular throughout the Greek period and treated a number of different themes. Popular leaders were writers of elegy--Solon the lawgiver of Athens composed on political and ethical subjects--and even Plato and Aristotle dabbled with the meter. Solon ( ancient Greek:, c 638 BC&ndash558 BC was an Athenian Statesman, Lawmaker and Lyric poet. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great.
By the Hellenic period, the Alexandrian school made elegy its favorite and most highly developed form. They preferred the briefer style associated with elegy in contrast to the lengthier epic forms, and made it the singular medium for short epigrams. The most important of these writers was Callimachus, whose learned character and intricate art would have a heavy influence on the Romans. Callimachus ( Greek:, 310 BC/305 BC-240 BC was a native of the Greek colony of Cyrene, Libya.
Roman Elegy
Like all Greek forms, elegy was adapted by the Romans for their own literature. The fragments of Ennius contain a few couplets, and scattered verses attributed to Roman public figures like Cicero and Julius Caesar also survive. Quintus Ennius (239 - 169 BC was a writer during the period of the Roman Republic, and is often considered the father of Roman Poetry. Marcus Tullius Cicero ( Classical Latin ˈkikeroː usually ˈsɪsərəʊ in English January 3, 106 BC &ndash December 7, 43 BC was a Roman
But it is the elegists of the mid-to-late first century BCE who are most commonly associated with the distinctive Roman form of the elegiac couplet. Catullus, the first of these, is an invaluable link between the Alexandrine school and the subsequent elegies of Tibullus and Propertius a generation later. For persons with a Cognomen "Catulus" see Lutatius Gaius Valerius Catullus (ca Albius Tibullus (ca 54-19 BC was a Latin Poet and writer of elegies. Sextus Aurelius Propertius was a Latin elegiac poet born around 50-45 BCE in Mevania (although other cities in the region of Umbria claim His collection, for example, shows a familiarity with the usual Alexandrine style of terse epigram and a wealth of mythological learning, while his 66th poem is a direct translation of Callimachus' Coma Berenices. Arguably the most famous elegiac couplet in Latin is his two-line 85th poem Odi et Amo:
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- Odi et amo. Catullus 85 is a Poem by the Roman poet Catullus for his mistress Lesbia. quare id faciam, fortasse requiris?
- nescio, sed fieri sentio et excrucior.
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Cornelius Gallus is another important statesman/writer of this period, one who was generally regarded by the ancients as the greatest of the elegists. Gaius Cornelius Gallus (ca 70 BC&ndash26 BC Roman Poet, Orator and Politician, was born of humble parents at Forum Julii ( Fréjus Other than a few scant lines, all of his work has been lost.
Elegy in the Augustan Age
The form reached its zenith with the collections of Tibullus, Propertius, and several collections of Ovid (the Amores, Heroides, Tristia, and Epistulae Ex Ponto). Albius Tibullus (ca 54-19 BC was a Latin Poet and writer of elegies. Sextus Aurelius Propertius was a Latin elegiac poet born around 50-45 BCE in Mevania (although other cities in the region of Umbria claim Publius Ovidius Naso ( March 20, 43 BC – 17 AD was a Roman poet known to the English -speaking world as Ovid who wrote on many topics including Amores is Ovid 's first completed book published in 16 BC. Amores was written in the elegiac distich. The Heroides ( Her) (“The Heroines” or Epistulae Heroidum (“Letters of Heroines” are a collection of fifteen epistolary Tristia ('Sadness' is a work of poetry in five books written by the Roman poet Ovid at some time after he was banished from Rome in AD 8. The vogue of elegy during this time is seen in the so-called 3rd and 4th book of Tibullus. Many poems in these books were clearly not written by Tibullus but by others, perhaps part of a circle under Tibullus' patron Mesalla. Notable in this collection are the poems of Sulpicia, one of the few surviving bits of Latin literature written by a woman. Sulpicia was the name of two Roman women reputed in antiquity as Poets Sulpicia I The earlier Sulpicia is the only known woman from Ancient
Through these poets--and in comparison with the earlier Catullus--it is possible to trace specific characteristics and evolutionary patterns in the Roman form of the verse:
- The Roman authors often write about their own love affairs. In contrast to their Greek originals, these poets are characters in his own stories, and write about love in a highly subjective way.
- The form began to be applied to new themes beyond the traditional love, loss, and other "strong emotion" verse. Propertius, for example, uses it to relate aetiological or "origin" myths such as the origins of Rome (IV. 1) and the Temple of Apollo on the Palatine Hill (IV. 6). Ovid's Heroides--though at first glance fictitious love letters--are described by Ovid himself as a new literary form, and can be read as character studies of famous heroines from mythology. The Heroides ( Her) (“The Heroines” or Epistulae Heroidum (“Letters of Heroines” are a collection of fifteen epistolary
- The Romans adopted the Alexandrine habit of concealing the name of their beloved in the poem with a pseudonym. Catullus' vexing Lesbia is notorious as the pseudonym of the teasing Clodia. Lesbia was the pseudonym of the lover to whom the Roman Poet Gaius Valerius Catullus (84-54BC dedicates a number of poems But as the form developed, this habit becomes more artificial; Tibullus' Delia and Propertius' Cynthia, while likely real people, lasck something of the specificity seen in Lesbia, while Ovid's Corinna is a mere literary device.
- The poets become extremely careful in forming the distinctive pentameter line of their verses. Examples:
- A trend toward the clear separation of the pentameter halves. Catullus, for example, allows an elision across the caesura in 18 cases, a rare flaw in the later poets (Ovid, for example, never does this).
- The pentameter begins to show a semi-regular "leonine" rhyme between the two halves of the verse, e. g. Tib. I. 1-2, where the culti ending the first half of the pentameter rhymes with the soli closing the verse:
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- Divitias alius fulvo sibi congerat auro
- Et teneat culti iugera multa soli,
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- While Catullus shows this rhyme in about 1 in 5 couplets, the later elegists use it more frequently. Propertius II. 34, for example, has the rhyme in nearly half its pentameters. Rhyming between adjacent lines and even in the two halves of the hexameter is also observed, more than would be expected by chance alone.
- Unlike Catullus, later poets show a definite trend toward ending the pentameter with a two-syllable word. Propertius is especially interesting; in his first two books, he ignores this rule about as frequently as Catullus and Tibullus, but in the last two books endings other than a disyllabic word are very rare. Ovid has no exceptions to the disyllable in his Amores, and only a few proper names occur as polysyllabic endings in his later work. Amores is Ovid 's first completed book published in 16 BC. Amores was written in the elegiac distich.
- The hexameter follows the usual rhetorical trends of the dactylic hexameter in this age. Dactylic Hexameter (also known as "heroic hexameter" is a form of meter in poetry or a rhythmic scheme If anything, the elegists are even more interested in verbal effects like alliteration and assonance.
Post-Augustan writers
Although no poets wrote collections of elegies after Ovid, the verse retained its popularity as a vehicle for popular albeit occasional poetry. Elegiac verses appear, for example, in Petronius' Satyricon, and Martial used it mainly for short or epigrammatical effect in his collection of Epigrams. Petronius (ca 27–66 was a Roman writer of the Neronian age he was a noted satirist. Marcus Valerius Martialis (known in English as Martial) (March 1 40 AD - ca The trend continues through the remainder of the empire; short elegies appear in Apuleius's story Psyche and Cupid and the minor writings of Ausonius. Apuleius should not be confused with Lucius Appuleius Saturninus, a Roman demagogue or with Pseudo-Apuleius, an author This article is about the Roman poet Ausonius For John Ausonius the Swedish murderer see John Ausonius.
Medieval elegy
After the fall of the empire, various Christian writers adopted the verse; Venantius Fortunatus wrote some of his hymns in the meter, while later Alcuin and the Venerable Bede dabbled in the verse. Saint Venantius Fortunatus or Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus (c Alcuin of York (Alcuinus or Ealhwine, nicknamed Albinus or Flaccus (c Bede (ˈbiːd (also Saint Bede, the Venerable Bede, or (from Latin Beda (beda (c The form also remained popular among the educated classes for gravestone epitaphs; many such epitaphs can be found in European cathedrals.
De tribus puellis is an example of a Latin fabliau, a genre of comedy which employed elegiac couplets in imitation of Ovid. De tribus puellis or The Three Girls is an anonymous Medieval Latin poem a narrative Elegiac comedy (or Fabliau The fabliau (plural fabliaux or "'fablieaux'" is a comic usually anonymous tale written by Jongleurs in northeast France circa the 13th Comedy (from the Greek κωμωδίαkomodia has a popular meaning (any discourse generally intended to amuse especially in Television, Film, and The medieval theorist John of Garland wrote that "all comedy is elegy, but the reverse is not true. Johannes de Garlandia or John of Garland was a philologist and university teacher " Medieval Latin had a developed comedic genre known as elegiac comedy. Medieval Latin was the form of Latin used in the Middle Ages, primarily as a medium of scholarly exchange and as the Liturgical language of the medieval Sometimes narrative, sometimse dramatic, it deviated from ancient practice because, as Ian Thompson writes, "no ancient drama would ever have been written in elegiacs. Drama is the specific mode of Fiction represented in Performance. "
Renaissance and modern period
With the Renaissance, more skilled writers interested in the revival of Roman culture took on the form in a way which attempted to recapture the spirit of the Augustan writers. The Dutch Latinist Johannes Secundus, for example, included Catullus-inspired love elegies in his Liber Basiorum, while the English poet John Milton wrote several lengthy elegies throughout his career. Johannes Secundus (also Janus Secundus) ( 15 November, 1511 &ndash 25 September, 1536) was a Renaissance Latin poet John Milton ( 9 December, 1608 – 8 November, 1674) was an English Poet, Prose Polemicist and This trend continued down through the Recent Latin writers, whose close study of their Augustan counterparts reflects their general attempts to apply the cultural and literary forms of the ancient world to contemporary themes.
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