A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form. The grief is most often born of regret, or mourning. Laments can also be expressed in a verbal manner in which participants lament about something that they regret or someone that they have lost, and they are usually accompanied by wailing, moaning and/or crying. Laments constitute some of the oldest forms of writing, and examples exist across human cultures.
Facts
Notable ExampleDido's Lament (When I am laid in earth) by Henry Purcell 1 Defining TraitA passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form 1 Defining Trait Partially Attested
Place of OriginSource cites ancient Sumer as the site of one of the oldest surviving laments and says laments exist across human cultures; no single place of origin is stated. FAQs
How is a lament related to an elegy?
A lament is a poem of deep grief, closely related to the elegy and the dirge.
The Poetry Foundation glossary defines a lament as any poem expressing deep grief, usually at the death of a loved one or some other loss, and says it is related to the elegy and the dirge. It points readers to A Lament by Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lament by Thom Gunn and Lament by Edna St. Vincent Millay as examples.
Connections
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Lament
History, paragraph 1
The Lament for Sumer and Ur dates back at least 4000 years to ancient Sumer
History, paragraph 7
Dido's Lament ("When I am laid in earth") (Henry Purcell, Dido and Aeneas)
Lead, sentence 1
a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form
Lead paragraph, defining sentence
A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form.
In Group: Elegy and Lament, Lead section
A lament or lamentation is a passionate expression of grief, often in music, poetry, or song form.
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