Elegiac couplet

Greek origins

The elegiac couplet is presumed to be the oldest Greek form of epodic poetry (a form where a later verse is sung in response or comment to a previous one). Scholars, who even in the past did not know who created it, theorize the form was originally used in Ionian dirges, with the name "elegy" derived from the Greek ε, λεγε ε, λεγε—"Woe, cry woe, cry!" Hence, the form was used initially for funeral songs, typically accompanied by an aulos, a double-reed wind instrument. Archilochus expanded use of the form to treat other themes, such as war, travel, and homespun philosophy. Between Archilochus and other imitators, the verse form became a common poetic vehicle for conveying any strong emotion.

At the end of the 7th century BCE, Mimnermus of Colophon struck on the innovation of using the verse for erotic poetry. He composed several elegies celebrating his love for the flute girl Nanno, and though fragmentary today, his poetry was clearly influential in the later Roman development of the form. Propertius, to cite one example, notes Plus in amore valet Mimnermi versus Homero—"The verse of Mimnermus is stronger in love than Homer".

The form continued to be popular throughout the Greek period and treated a number of different themes. Tyrtaeus composed elegies on a war theme, apparently for a Spartan audience. Theognis of Megara vented himself in couplets as an embittered aristocrat in a time of social change. Popular leaders were writers of elegies—Solon the lawgiver of Athens composed on political and ethical subjects—and even Plato and Aristotle dabbled with the meter.

A famous example of an elegiac couplet is the epitaph composed by Simonides of Ceos which Herodotus says was inscribed on a stone to commemorate those who died at the battle of Thermopylae in 490 BC:

:ὦ ξεῖν᾿, ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε :κείμεθα τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι. (Book VII, 228)

: :

:"O stranger, tell the Spartans that in this place :we lie, obeying their commands."

Cicero translates it as follows (Tusc. Disp. 1.42.101), also using an elegiac couplet:

:dīc hospes Spartae, nōs t(ē) hīc vīdisse iacentēs, :dum sānctīs patriae lēgibus obsequimur.

:"Say, stranger, in Sparta that you saw us lying here :while we obey the sacred laws of our fatherland."

By the Hellenistic period, the Library of Alexandria made elegy its favorite and most highly developed form. They preferred the briefer style associated with elegy in contrast to the lengthier epic forms, and made it the singular medium for short epigrams. The founder of this school was Philitas of Cos. He was eclipsed only by the school's most admired exponent, Callimachus; their learned character and intricate art would have a heavy influence on the Romans.

Roman elegy

Like many Greek forms, elegy was adapted by the Romans for their own literature. The fragments of Ennius contain a few couplets, but it is the elegists of the mid-to-late first century BCE who are most commonly associated with the distinctive Roman form of the elegiac couplet. Catullus, the first of these, is an invaluable link between the Alexandrine school and the subsequent elegies of Tibullus, Propertius and Ovid. He shows a familiarity with the usual Alexandrine style of terse epigram and a wealth of mythological learning, as in his 66th poem, , a direct translation of Callimachus' Lock of Berenice. His 85th poem is famous:{{Verse translation|lang=la| :Odi et amo. Quare id faciam, fortasse requiris?

| I hate and I love. Why do I do this, perhaps you ask? I know not, but I feel it happen and am tormented.}}

To read it correctly it is necessary to take account of the three elisions:

– u u| – –| – u u|– – | – u u| – x Od'et a|mo. Qua|r'id faci|am, for|tasse re|quiris?

– uu | – uu| – || – u u | – u u|– Nescio, | sed fie|ri || senti'et | excruci|or.

Cornelius Gallus, an important statesman of this period, was also regarded by the ancients as a great elegist, but, except for a few lines, his work has been lost.

Elegy in the Augustan Age

The form reached its zenith with the collections of Tibullus and Propertius and several collections of Ovid (the Amores, Ars Amatoria, Heroides, Tristia, and Epistulae ex Ponto). The vogue of elegy during this time is seen in the so-called 3rd and 4th books of Tibullus. Many poems in these books were clearly not written by Tibullus but by others, perhaps part of a circle under Tibullus' patron Messalla. Notable in this collection are the poems of Sulpicia, thought to be the only surviving work by a Classical Latin female poet. The six elegiac poems of Lygdamus in the collection are thought by some to be an anonymous early work by Ovid, though other scholars attribute them to an imitator of Ovid who may have lived in a much later period.

Through these poets—and in comparison with the earlier Catullus—it is possible to trace specific characteristics and evolutionary patterns in the Roman form of the verse:

• The Roman authors often write about their own love affairs. In contrast to their Greek originals, these poets are characters in his own stories, and write about love in a highly subjective way.
• The form began to be applied to new themes beyond the traditional love, loss, and other "strong emotion" verse. Propertius uses it to relate aetiological or "origin" myths such as the origins of Rome (IV.1) and the Temple of Apollo on the Palatine Hill (IV.6). Ovid's Heroides—though at first glance fictitious love letters—are described by Ovid himself as a new literary form, and can be read as character studies of famous heroines from mythology. Ovid's Fasti is a lengthy elegiac poem on the first six months of the Roman calendar.
• The Romans adopted the Alexandrine habit of concealing the name of their beloved in the poem with a pseudonym. Catullus' Lesbia is notorious as the pseudonym of Clodia. But as the form developed, this habit becomes more artificial; Tibullus' Delia and Propertius' Cynthia, while likely real people, lack something of the specificity seen in Lesbia, while Ovid's Corinna is often considered a mere literary device.
• The poets become extremely strict with pentameters. For example: :*There is a trend toward the clear separation of the pentameter halves. Catullus, for example, allows an elision across the caesura in 18 cases, a rare occurrence in the later poets (Ovid, for example, never does this). :*The pentameter begins to show a semi-regular "leonine" rhyme between the two halves of the verse, e.g. Tib. I.1–2, where the culti ending the first half of the pentameter rhymes with the soli closing the verse:

:::"Let another man pile up riches for himself with yellow gold