Elegiac Poetry

Ancient Greek elegiac poetry was oral poetry sung in a distinct meter, which expressed moral, erotic, and aesthetic sentiments, especially laments.

Date: Seventh century b. c.e. to 31 b. c.e.

Category: Literature; poetry

Summary Greek elegiac poetry, or elegy, emerged from seventh century b. c.e. Archaic culture. Elegy consists of poetic couplets, units of two lines in which the second line is slowed, giving it the overall feel of a lament. An elegiac poet often sang along with a flute at a drinking party (a symposium) or other gathering. Elegy cannot be defined in terms of subject, since the elegiac poets sang about things both sacred and profane, but many of them expressed philosophical and political ideas that were important to the early Greek city-states.

The first elegists, from the seventh and sixth centuries b. c.e., include Archilochus of Paros, Tyrtaeus, and Callinus, followed by Mimnermus, Solon, and Xenophanes. They took many points of view. Tyrtaeus exhorted his fellows to fight for Sparta, while Archilochus bragged of running from battle. Solon focused on ending civil strife within Athens by teaching proper standards of justice. His mention of Mimnermus is evidence for interactions between these poets. Xenophanes, also an early philosopher, left one poem that promoted moderation in a symposium and another that elevated the value of poets over athletes. Other fragments of these “wisdom poets” included witty sayings, expressions of love and the meaning of life, warnings against acquiring wealth unjustly, and drinking songs.

During the Classical period (fifth century b. c.e.), Simonides, Dionysius of Chalcis, Euenus, Ion, Critias, and others confirm that elegies were sung in the symposium. Simonides left a poem about the Greek victory over the Persians in 480/479 b. c.e. Critias is associated with political events following the Peloponnesian War (431-404 b. c.e.) and with the philosopher Socrates, who was executed in 399 b. c.e. The 1,400 lines of elegy attributed to

The elegiac poet Posidippus.

(F. R. Niglutsch)

Theognis in the fourth century b. c.e. were actually a collection from various poets, probably compiled during the Hellenistic period (322-31 b. c.e.).

Significance Elegiac verses were often preserved in Hellenistic anthologies as epigrams. Epigrams were, strictly speaking, written and not oral, although many adopted the elegiac meter and could be passed on orally. Hellenistic elegists and compilers included Callimachus, Philitas, and Phanocles. A papyrus of poems by Posidippus of Pella was the most important literary find of the last decades of the twentieth century. Elegy, passed on by Hellenistic compilers, had tremendous influence on poets in Rome, especially Catullus.

Further Reading

Adkins, A. W. H. Poetic Craft in the Early Greek Elegists. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985.

Gerber, Douglas E., ed. A Companion to the Greek Lyric Poets. New York:

E. J. Brill, 1997.

_, ed. and trans. Greek Elegiac Poetry: From the Seventh to the

Fifth Centuries B. C. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999.

West, Martin L. Studies in Greek Elegy and Iambus. New York: De Gruyter, 1974.

John Lewis

See also: Archilochus of Paros; Bucolic Poetry; Critias of Athens; Iambic

Poetry; Literature; Lyric Poetry; Mimnermus; Simonides; Solon; Theog-

Nis; Tyrtaeus; Xenophanes.