Mourning and Panegyric

Mourning and Panegyric: The Poetics of Pastoral Ceremony is a scholarly genre study focused on pastoral poetry and death in literature. This volume 1 exploration examines the relationship between funeral elegies and marriage hymns to theorize how these forms influence lyric processes. Celeste Schenck analyzes how these specific poetic structures serve as initiatory scenarios that allow artists to record the death and rebirth of their own poetic identities.

The text investigates the symbolic reciprocity between the past-oriented nature of elegies and the future-directed focus of marriage poems. By exploring how both forms attempt to circumvent mortality through deification or the projection of issue, the author extends theories of genre and counter-genre. This academic work provides a comprehensive analysis of pastoral ceremony and its broader implications for the study of lyric modes.