Elegy In Catalog Of Unabashed Gratitude By Ross Gay

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Recommended: The Nature And Elements of Poetry

Elegy can be used as a way to grieve, or a way to get past the mourning stages for a poet. In "Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude" by Ross Gay, one of the pivotal points of the book is when he writes about the death of his dad. In his poem "Burial" we see how he travels through the mourning stages and eventually comes terms with his death. The specific elements of an elegy include, speaking with the dead, grief and shock, and naming the dead. Gay specifically targets all of these components. He begins by naming not how his father died, but by stating, "out back I took the jar which has become my father's house" (pg. 11). We know that he is in the process of mourning, and now the only thing he has of his father is his ashes. Gay begins to heal after

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