Poetic Form
Epitaph
From Greek epitaphion: upon a tomb. The genre spans the comic epitaph (John Gay's self-written verse) to the solemn (Yeats's 'Cast a cold eye').
Definition
A short verse or inscription commemorating the dead, either carved on a monument or composed as if for one.
Example
Gray's 'Elegy': 'Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth / A youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown.'