In an elegy, remember the garden as you pull up the bean poles.Lament: string and dry vines. Praise: the tunnel they made. Consolation: the poles are stacked for May.
Mourn in an elegy a baseball glove that no longer fits your hand.Lament: fingers too long. Praise: the pop of a caught ball. Consolation: it hangs where you can see it.
Mourn in an elegy a goldfish whose bowl sat on the kitchen counter.Lament: the still water. Praise: laps at feeding time. Consolation: a plant grows in the bowl.
Compose an elegy for a movie theater with one screen and a balcony.Lament: the blank marquee. Praise: the velvet rope. Consolation: you remember which seat was yours.
Compose an elegy for a treehouse that came down with its tree.Lament: the ladder of nailed boards. Praise: the password rule. Consolation: the one board you kept.
Compose an elegy for the vacant lot where everyone played before the fence went up.Lament: the padlock. Praise: home plate, a flattened box. Consolation: the games moved one block.
In an elegy, remember a drive-in movie screen left standing in an empty field.Lament: weeds in the rows. Praise: the speaker hung on the window. Consolation: swallows nest in it.
In an elegy, remember the bakery whose smell used to reach the bus stop.Lament: paper over the windows. Praise: rolls at six in the morning. Consolation: the baker's wave.
In an elegy, remember the dirt road that was paved.Lament: no dust behind the truck. Praise: the washboard rattle. Consolation: it still bends at the oak.
Mourn in an elegy a creek that was put in a pipe under the road.Lament: the iron grate. Praise: crayfish under flat stones. Consolation: its sound after heavy rain.
Mourn in an elegy a family's summer cabin, sold with its furniture.Lament: the key handed over. Praise: the screen door's slap. Consolation: the lake does not know.
Mourn in an elegy the playground that was taken out when the new one went in.Lament: the tall metal slide. Praise: how hot it got in July. Consolation: the scar on your knee.
Say goodbye in an elegy to a skating pond that was filled in.Lament: the level lawn. Praise: the bonfire on the bank. Consolation: skates still hung in the shed.
Say goodbye in an elegy to a vegetable garden that went back to lawn when the house changed hands.Lament: mown rows. Praise: beans higher than your head. Consolation: one volunteer squash.
Say goodbye in an elegy to the house you lived in before this one.Lament: someone else's curtains. Praise: the stair that creaked. Consolation: you can walk it in the dark.
Write an elegy for a corner store that is now a parking lot.Lament: the painted-over sign. Praise: the jar of penny candy. Consolation: you still know the prices.
Write an elegy for a one-room library that closed when the big branch opened.Lament: the book drop bolted shut. Praise: the stamp and its ink pad. Consolation: your card, kept.
Write an elegy for the old school gym, on the night before its wooden floor is pulled up.Lament: the painted lines. Praise: one squeak that was yours. Consolation: a plank on the trophy shelf.
An object 15
Compose an elegy for a pair of sneakers worn through at the toe.Lament: the flapping sole. Praise: every fence they climbed. Consolation: the laces went to the new pair.
Compose an elegy for a paper airplane whose best flight ended on the roof.Lament: a white corner in the gutter. Praise: the long glide. Consolation: you can fold another by heart.
Compose an elegy for a wristwatch that stopped and could not be repaired.Lament: the hands at ten past four. Praise: its tick under a pillow. Consolation: right twice a day.
In an elegy, remember a lunchbox with a latch that finally gave out.Lament: the latch. Praise: the thermos that fit just so. Consolation: it holds your marbles now.
In an elegy, remember a pair of glasses that got sat on once too often.Lament: one bent arm. Praise: the day the leaves got edges. Consolation: the case holds the new pair.
In an elegy, remember a stuffed animal left behind in a motel room.Lament: the drive home. Praise: one ear chewed flat. Consolation: imagine who found it.
Mourn in an elegy a baseball glove that no longer fits your hand.Lament: fingers too long. Praise: the pop of a caught ball. Consolation: it hangs where you can see it.
Mourn in an elegy a favorite mug that broke in the sink.Lament: three pieces and the handle. Praise: how it fit both hands. Consolation: its handle is a key hook now.
Mourn in an elegy the last stub of the crayon you used most.Lament: paper peeled, too short to grip. Praise: every sky it colored. Consolation: the skies are still up.
Say goodbye in an elegy to a board game whose box has split at every corner.Lament: tape over tape. Praise: the dice everyone blew on. Consolation: the rules are in your head.
Say goodbye in an elegy to a pocket radio that picked up one station and then none.Lament: the hiss. Praise: ball games under the covers. Consolation: you kept the dial.
Say goodbye in an elegy to the family car on the day it is towed away.Lament: the empty driveway. Praise: the back seat's maps and crumbs. Consolation: the oil spot stays.
Write an elegy for a bicycle you outgrew.Lament: knees at the handlebars. Praise: the bell. Consolation: who rides it now.
Write an elegy for a blanket washed so many times it came apart.Lament: the hole that became two. Praise: its corner. Consolation: a square of it lines a drawer.
Write an elegy for a pencil sharpened down to its metal band.Lament: nothing left to hold. Praise: every test it sat through. Consolation: the eraser still works.
A season 15
Compose an elegy for a snow day, at the hour the plows come through.Lament: black road. Praise: the radio reading out your school. Consolation: the fort is still standing.
Compose an elegy for the leaves on the day the wind takes the last of them.Lament: bare branches by noon. Praise: one week of red. Consolation: you can see the nests now.
Compose an elegy for the town pool on the day its cover goes on.Lament: the locked gate. Praise: the high board. Consolation: the smell stays in your towel.
In an elegy, remember spring blossoms after one hard rain.Lament: petals in the gutter. Praise: four days of white. Consolation: small green fruit behind them.
In an elegy, remember the garden as you pull up the bean poles.Lament: string and dry vines. Praise: the tunnel they made. Consolation: the poles are stacked for May.
In an elegy, remember winter, as the last gray snowbank melts at the edge of a parking lot.Lament: grit and one mitten. Praise: the first clean morning. Consolation: the sled waits in the garage.
Mourn in an elegy the fireflies, on the first night none come.Lament: a dark yard. Praise: a jar with holes in the lid. Consolation: you let them all go.
Mourn in an elegy the ice cream truck's last round of the year.Lament: the song fading. Praise: coins hot in your fist. Consolation: you know its route by heart.
Mourn in an elegy the last tomato of the garden.Lament: black vines after frost. Praise: August, eaten over the sink. Consolation: seeds drying on a plate.
Say goodbye in an elegy to the ball season after the last out.Lament: the dark scoreboard. Praise: one catch in June. Consolation: the grass keeps growing.
Say goodbye in an elegy to the last swim of the year, in a lake gone cold.Lament: the dock pulled in. Praise: the rope swing. Consolation: your hair stays wet until supper.
Say goodbye in an elegy to the long evenings, on the day it is dark before supper.Lament: streetlights at five. Praise: playing out until nine. Consolation: stars on the walk home.
Write an elegy for summer on the first morning you need a jacket.Lament: breath you can see. Praise: bare feet on warm boards. Consolation: sand still in the car.
Write an elegy for the final day of summer vacation.Lament: clothes laid out. Praise: mornings with no clock. Consolation: who you will see tomorrow.
Write an elegy for the geese as the last flock leaves.Lament: a quiet sky. Praise: the ragged V. Consolation: they left by the same road they come back on.
A pet 15
Compose an elegy for a cat by listing the places she is no longer found.Lament: the sill, the sock drawer, the top stair. Praise: the last place. Consolation: the sun still moves.
Compose an elegy for a cat who slept on the radiator.Lament: the warm spot, empty. Praise: a purr through the pipes. Consolation: fur on your black coat.
Compose an elegy for a dog, beginning with the leash that still hangs by the door.Lament: the hook. Praise: the pull toward every tree. Consolation: you walk the same loop.
In an elegy, remember a barn cat who belonged to no one and was fed by everyone.Lament: three full saucers. Praise: mice laid out like gifts. Consolation: her gray kittens.
In an elegy, remember a pet hen who followed the children to the bus stop.Lament: the walk alone. Praise: her opinion of the bus. Consolation: one brown egg kept on a shelf.
In an elegy, remember the class hamster, in the voice of the whole room.Lament: the quiet wheel. Praise: weekend visits, by turns. Consolation: every desk has a story.
Mourn in an elegy a goldfish whose bowl sat on the kitchen counter.Lament: the still water. Praise: laps at feeding time. Consolation: a plant grows in the bowl.
Mourn in an elegy a guinea pig who whistled at the refrigerator door.Lament: silence at the hinge. Praise: lettuce, taken politely. Consolation: you still say her name there.
Mourn in an elegy a rabbit who thumped when the dishwasher started.Lament: no thump. Praise: ears like two opinions. Consolation: clover where the hutch stood.
Say goodbye in an elegy to a dog through the things he taught you without meaning to.Lament: the lessons are over. Praise: how to greet a person. Consolation: you greet people that way.
Say goodbye in an elegy to a turtle who moved house with the family four times.Lament: the dry tank. Praise: his unhurried lunch. Consolation: he taught the youngest to wait.
Say goodbye in an elegy to an old horse who knew the way home without the reins.Lament: the empty stall. Praise: his slow walk in the dark. Consolation: the path he wore is still there.
Write an elegy for a dog who waited at the same window every afternoon.Lament: clean glass. Praise: the nose prints. Consolation: you still look up at the window.
Write an elegy for a parakeet who learned to ring like the telephone.Lament: the covered cage. Praise: every false alarm. Consolation: you still reach for the phone.
Write an elegy for the dog who was in the family before you were.Lament: photographs without you. Praise: you learned to stand holding his fur. Consolation: your first word.
How it works
These elegy writing prompts mourn everyday losses: a corner store, an outgrown bicycle, the last tomato of the garden, a dog who waited at a window. None asks for a poem about a person's death.
Read the full guide
Three stages on one line
The line under each prompt gives one detail for each stage of a traditional elegy, in order. For the bicycle: knees at the handlebars to lament, the bell to praise, who rides it now for consolation.
Give the praise the most lines. One exact detail, a nose print or a creaking stair, does more than the word sad.
Keep the consolation small: a board you kept, seeds drying on a plate. It does not have to mend anything.
Questions and answers
What is an elegy?
A form of poetry in which the poet or speaker expresses grief, sadness or loss. It began as an ancient Greek metrical form.
What are the three parts of an elegy?
A lament, then praise and admiration, then consolation and solace. The Academy of American Poets describes them as mirroring three stages of loss.
What is the difference between an elegy and a eulogy?
An elegy is a poem, and a eulogy is most often written in formal prose. The Academy of American Poets also sets the elegy apart from the epitaph, which is very brief, and the ode, which solely exalts.
Does an elegy have to be about someone who died?
Traditionally, yes: the elegy is written in response to the death of a person or group. Many modern elegies are written out of a broad feeling of loss instead.
Can you write an elegy for a pet?
Yes. Fifteen prompts are for one: a goldfish whose bowl sat on the kitchen counter, a barn cat fed by everyone, the class hamster remembered in the voice of the whole room.