The Funerary Elegy in Its Ritual Context

Abstract

Nathaniel Friend’s narrative of his son John’s death, introduced in Chapter 2, reveals many features of early modern consolation. It also provides evidence of how the funerary ritual incorporated elegiac verse. In this chapter, the elegiac commonplace which draws on funeral symbolism will be illuminated through attention to the historical development of funeral customs. In Section 3.2, I argue that the exclusivity of the funeral did not prevent loyal mourners or ambitious elegists from intruding to express their love for the dead. These displays of intrusive affection were not merely symbolic; elegies were actually pinned to the hearse or carpeted the grave. Conversely, some elegists asserted their bonds with the dead through a rejection of the funeral rites. Section 3.3 explains the mechanics of funerary exclusivity. The heralds sought to maintain the purity of the nobility by policing the funeral procession, but participation could also be restricted based on class or gender, and even the funeral feast was striated with social distinctions. However, Section 3.4 reveals that the heralds increasingly found their exclusive management of the funeral under threat from families who wished to memorialise their dead without interference from the state. Another form of exclusion, literacy, is the theme of Section 3.5. Textual and graphical representations of the funeral could involve a large number of participants in the obsequies of civic heroes.