Elegy
Adieu near those fields that smoke disembowels
And that your arm pushes away
For a long time until the inevitable stratum of the
Adieus until the next
Adieu
The door in a cliff has closed. I wanted
Daylight to enter here only through the arc-lamp of your eyes
That the limits of this place be defined only
By the carnal walls our bodies erected
Opened wider on the recaptured past than the smallest
Pocket-watch and its visible trail ever were
Your mouth swallowed the hour and my teeth broke on it
When I entered you with kisses
Under the full-blown palm of multiple hands
The rose you know, on the ground now,
Perfumed the silence and killed our secrets
Marking our garden with fear that was no longer fear
Adieu the songs are ended the years disemboweled
And may your body distance itself
For a long time until the ineluctable regret of
Adieus until forever
Martory, Pierre. "Elegy." Poetry Foundation. Poetry Foundation, 1993. Web. 24 Sept. 2014. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poem/27870>.
I'd say that this elegy follows the typical elements of a elegy pretty well starting with the lament followed by praise and finished by solace. The first stanza of the poem is obviously filled with sorrow and lament using kind of sadder words such as smoke, pushes away, and the repetition of adieu. By using these words the writer easily establishes the sorrowful tone of the poem. The second, third and fourth stanzas in my opinion all part of the praise that the writer bestows on the dead talking about memories that they had. However the last line of the fourth stanza marks the transition to the solace. Many people say that their greatest fear is dying so by "marking our garden with fear that was no longer fear" they start to comfort others in saying that in dying we surpass our fear of it. I don't have a really strong personal connection to the elegy since I've only ever been to one funeral and while it was for a family member I'd never met them before so there wasn't a strong emotional connection. But the last stanza is something that I feel like anyone can connect to: "For a long time until the ineluctable regret of Adieus until forever". As sad as it is, the truth is that we'll have to keep saying goodbye to people who die around us until finally we ourselves die.
I love your analysis of the elegy. I agree that it goes through the typical three stages of an elegy. I also liked your last bit of connection. I believe that everyone can relate to the message. It's true that people die and some of those people will be close to you, and although it's sad, it's reality, and eventually everyone will come to accept it.Everyone will witness the loss of others until their own time comes.
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