Poetic Form
Dirge
From Latin dirige (imperative of dirigere): the opening word of the Office of the Dead. A liturgical origin distinguishes it from the secular elegy.
Definition
A short, mournful lyric lamenting the dead, simpler and more compressed than an elegy.
Example
Ariel's song in The Tempest: 'Full fathom five thy father lies; / Of his bones are coral made.'