This is the name given to the series of poetic and literary compositions, in which some misfortune is lamented, such as the death of a close being or the simple loss of illusion, which are characterized by not having a fixed metric. It is a poem of complaint. It extends to any topic that the writer considers appropriate, be it concrete or completely abstract, that is, it deals with those matters related to the soul.
Among the few distinctions that are made within this group of poems, is that of the funeral elegy, since this is directed specifically to someone who has died and is confused with the epitaph, the lapidary inscriptions recorded at the funeral moments.
The name of this style comes from the type of meter normally used, the elegiac couplet, the classic stanza of two verses, a hexameter and a pentameter; This was quite common in Greco-Roman metrics and was very present in Romance and European literatures. It is worth mentioning that it is precisely the elegy that arises within Greco-Latin literature, being written using the Ionian dialect and was recited, often using a flute as accompaniment, in addition to, on some occasions, the lyre. The elegiac couplet, in the same way, was presented in Greek, Latin and Spanish, although in the latter it was somewhat irregular, due to the rules of the language.
In Hispanic literature, numerous elegies have been created. Among these, of course, some stand out for the quality of their content and form, being them: Elegy to doña Juana la loca, Federico García Lorca; Elegy of the impossible memory, Jorge Luis Borges; Ode to Federico García Lorca, Pablo Neruda; Elegy interrupted, Octavio Paz.
