What is "elegiac"

Elegiac \E*le"gi*ac\ (?; 277), a. [L. elegiacus, Gr. ?: cf. F.

1. Belonging to elegy, or written in elegiacs; plaintive; expressing sorrow or lamentation; as, an elegiac lay; elegiac strains.

   Elegiac griefs, and songs of love.
   --Mrs. Browning.

2. Used in elegies; as, elegiac verse; the elegiac distich or couplet, consisting of a dactylic hexameter and pentameter.

Elegiac \E*le"gi*ac\, n. Elegiac verse.

1580s, in reference to lines of verse of a particular construction, from Middle French élégiaque, from Latin elegiacus, from Greek elegeiakos, from eleigeia (see elegy). In ancient Greece the verse form was used especially with mournful music. Meaning "pertaining to an elegy or elegies" is from 1640s in English; loosened sense "expressing sorrow, lamenting" is from c.1800. Related: Elegiacal (1540s, of meter); elegiacally.

a. 1 Of, or relating to an elegy. 2 Expressing sorrow or mourning. n. A poem composed in the couplet style of classical elegy: a line of dactylic hexameter followed by a line of dactylic pentameter

1. adj. resembling or characteristic of or appropriate to an elegy; "an elegiac poem on a friend's death"

2. expressing sorrow often for something past; "an elegiac lament for youthful ideals"

The adjective elegiac has two possible meanings. First, it can refer to something of, relating to, or involving, an elegy or something that expresses similar mournfulness or sorrow. Second, it can refer more specifically to poetry composed in the form of elegiac couplets.

An elegiac couplet consists of one line of poetry in dactylic hexameter followed by a line in dactylic pentameter. Because dactylic hexameter is used throughout epic poetry, and because the elegiac form was always considered "lower style" than epic, elegists, or poets who wrote elegies, frequently wrote with epic poetry in mind and positioned themselves in relation to epic.