Elegiac Couplet

• The Elegy or Elegiac Couplet was a Form of Writing in Ancient Greece and Rome, which used a Paired Verse to make up a greater work. It was developed as an alternative to the Epic Poem.

Description

• The Elegiac Couplet was copied by the Romans from the Ancient Greek lyric Poets.
  • The First line has a verse in Dactylic Hexameter. This consists of six ‘Feet’ or ‘Dactyls’:
  • Each ‘Foot’ or ‘Dactyl’ is made of a long and a short syllable, or two short syllables, or one long Syllable, or two long syllables, or one long and two short syllables.
  • The second line has a Dactylic Pentameter verse. This contains five ‘Feet’ or ‘Dactyls’.
• The great Greek Elegiac Poets were Philitas of Cos and Callimachus.
• They were admired and imitated by the great Roman Poets:
  • Catullus, Propertius, Tibullus, Ovid and Martial who used the device to create the modern Epigram.

The Epic Poem

• The Elegy was developed as a rival form of writing to the Epic Poem.
  • Examples of Epic Poetry are the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer.