Grief is Isolating. The Elegy is Not: An Exploration of Loss and Grief in Poems

Grief is a messy, complicated process, one that can be all-consuming and isolating after a loss. Victoria Chang’s poetry in Obit and Ada Limón’s Bright Dead Things both explore loss and grief by using forms and free verse to characterize the stakes that come with a loved one’s decline and the aftermath of death. Michelle Zauner’s memoir, Crying in H Mart does similar work through the use of poetic elements in the memoir form. In my collection, Elegies of Home, I encounter the same struggles like the loss of identity, loss of a parent, and use the elegy as a way to showcase how grief can take multiple shapes. Critical texts about the elegy provide background and historical significance to my research and writing process. Studies on trauma and the psychological effects of grief provide evidence of claims that grief is not simplistic but instead has to be handled with the utmost care.