Lament 632782 225888810 2008-07-15T21:41:52Z Johnbod 2563820 '' {{otheruses}} A '''lament''' or '''lamentation''' is a [[song]] or [[poem]] expressing [[grief]], [[regret]] or [[mourning]]. Many of the oldest and most lasting poems in human [[history]] have been laments. Laments are present in both the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]'', in ''[[Beowulf]]'', in the [[Hindu]] [[Veda]]s, and in [[ancient Near East]]ern religious texts, including the Mesopotamian city laments such as the [[Lament for Ur]] and the [[Jew]]ish [[Tanakh]] (or [[Old Testament]]). In many oral traditions, both early and modern, the lament has been a genre usually performed by women. '''Lamentations''' is used as a short title for the [[Book of Lamentations]] or ''Lamentations of Jeremiah'' from the Old Testament. In art the ''[[Lamentation of Christ]]'' (with many closely variant terms) is a common subject from the ''[[Life of Christ]]'', showing his dead body being mourned after the [[Crucifixion of Jesus|Crucifixion]]. ==Bibliography== *Margaret Alexiou, ''The ritual lament in Greek tradition''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974. *[[H. Munro Chadwick]], [[Nora Kershaw Chadwick]], ''The growth of literature'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1932-40), e.g. vol. 2 p. 229. *[[Andrew Dalby]], ''Rediscovering Homer'' (New York: Norton, 2006. ISBN 0393057887) pp. 141-143. *Gail Holst-Warhaft, ''Dangerous voices: women's laments and Greek literature''. London: Routledge, 1992. ISBN 04151216555. *Claus Westermann, ''Praise and Lament in the Psalms''. Westminster: John Knox Press, 1981. ISBN 0804217920. [[Category:Social philosophy]] [[Category:Traditions]] [[Category:Poetic form]] {{Poetry-stub}} [[fr:Complainte]] [[it:Lamentazione]] [[he:קינה]] [[lt:Rauda]] [[pl:Tren (literatura)]] [[ru:Плач (литературный жанр)]]