Memorial Poetry: The History of the Funeral Eulogy
The eulogy and funeral elegy are often staples of many different kinds of memorial services. Most people almost exclusively associate a eulogy or elegy with the passing of a friend or loved one. While it is true that the modern versions are indeed most often used to lament someone’s death, the two distinct literary styles have a long and surprising history.
Before beginning to delve into the history of the funeral oration, however, it is important to make a clear distinction between the major types. Eulogy is the term used to describe practically any speech or writing that pays tribute to a person or people that have recently passed away. The word is derived from the two Greek words for “you” and “word”, “phrase” or “speech”. The eulogy was and is not always used for times of mourning, however. Eulogies can also be used to praise a person that is still alive; this type of eulogy is often used at birthdays and other special occasions. While eulogies are considered appropriate in most funeral situations, some cultures and religions look down upon them. For example, the Catholic Church forbids priests from presenting a eulogy in place of the traditional homily in a funeral mass.
The elegy is quite a different form of funeral lamentation altogether. In fact, the elegiac format dates back to classical Greek poetry. The elegiac meter contains two lines, known together as a couplet; most elegies contain a number of these couplets. The first line in the couplet is in dactylic hexameter, the second in dactylic pentameter. For basic rhyming schemes, this approximately equates to AB/AA.
One of the most influential early elegiac writers was Callimachus. Writing in the Hellenistic period, Callimachus had an incredible impact on such classic Roman poets as Catullus, Propertius, Tibullus and Ovid. Catullus’ 85th poem is perhaps the most famous Latin elegy. Written for his lover, Lesbia, the poem expresses conflicting emotion of both love and hatred:
“odi et amo. quare id faciam, fortasse requiris?
nescio, sed fieri sentio et ecrucior.”
“I hate and I love. Why do I do this, you might ask?
I know not, but I feel it happening and I am tortured”
The poem expresses not only a struggle but a loss of control as well. This feeling of helplessness is still quite prevalent in many modern elegies.
Most of the elegies written by the Roman classics were not lamentations at all, however. A different spin on epic poetry, elegiac poetry was originally championed as simply a way to express the beauty and grandeur of an epic poem in a shorter but equally noteworthy manner. Eventually, Roman authors also began to use the elegiac form to not only express strong emotion but also tell stories. Aetiological, or origin myths, gained in popularity, and soon Ovid, Propertius and others were using the form to relate such stories as the origin of Rome and the Temple of Apollo.
The elegy began to take its somber tone when it was picked up by such English poets as Lord Tennyson and Thomas Gray. Tennyson’s “Lady of Shalott”, although a lengthy piece of literature, retained the elegiac tone and paired the praise it offered with a very mournful tone. Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Courtyard” inspired many poets of the time to take up the elegy, though most used the form as a way of expressing solitude and mourning in a very general way.
Later, poets of the Romantic era attempted to use elegiac poetry in a lyrical way. Samuel Taylor Coleridge claimed the elegy was “most natural to the reflective mind.” William Wordsworth agreed, saying that this type of poetry came from “emotions recollected in tranquility.” After the Romantic period, however, the elegy became more and more synonymous with lamentation. Eventually, the form settled into its common modern use as a way to mourn and celebrate the dead.
The eulogy and elegy both have a long and vibrant history. Though they differ in origin, age and versatility, both forms of funeral lamentation can be a touching and heartfelt tribute to a newly departed loved one. They can also act as a farewell, a way to help the bereaved find comfort and closure in incredibly difficult times. However they are used–whether as a speech, obituary or epitaph– eulogies and elegies contain both elements of sorrow and celebration. It is in that spirit, then, that their poetic forms should be used; to find the beauty in sadness, the laudation in mournful observance.
~Ben Anton, 2008
Tags: eulogy, eulogy poem, Memorial poetry