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Elegy · English Literature

In a pastoral elegy, what does the convention of the 'procession of mourners' entail?

  1. A military parade of armored vehicles and diplomats through a city center
  2. A sequence where figures like personifications, shepherds, and deities arrive to mourn
  3. A list of the editors who rejected the poet's earliest manuscripts
  4. A comic scene of characters stumbling while carrying an empty coffin
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Correct answer: A sequence where figures like personifications, shepherds, and deities arrive to mourn

The procession of mourners is a classic structural device where a series of characters visit the grieving poet to offer sympathy or ask why the tragedy occurred. In Milton's *Lycidas*, this procession includes Camus (representing Cambridge University) and Saint Peter (criticizing the corrupt church). This convention allows the poet to introduce diverse intellectual and thematic perspectives into the core lamentation.

Difficulty: Medium Question 9 of 15

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