An elegy is a poem that mourns something or someone lost. Modern elegies may mourn people, places or even objects, such as an old red phone box.
Elegies often move from description of what was lost, through memories, to reflection. In the phone box poem, the box held “a girl rehearsing ‘I'm sorry’” and other people's private moments; it “kept no record”. The final stanza contrasts it with modern phones that let us speak to anyone, anywhere, at once.
Tone in an elegy may be nostalgic, regretful, tender or quietly critical of the present.
Worked example
What contrast does “we speak to anyone, from anywhere, at once” set up?
- Modern phones offer constant connection.
- The box offered a private space to speak to one person.
Answer:A contrast between constant connection and private, focused conversation.
Key words
- elegy
- a poem mourning a loss
- nostalgic
- longing for the past
- reflection
- thinking deeply about meaning
Practise this
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Common Core-referenced: RL.9-10.4