Pastoral elegy condition of death, not just the death of a single individual. John Milton’s "Lycidas," considered the most famous pastoral elegy, mourns the death of the poet’s good friend Edward King. In the 17th century, John Donne, a contemporary of Milton’s, explored the genre further and addressed matters of human love, which to his metaphysically inclined mind often resembled death. In the English language some of the greatest pastoral elegies are "Adonaïs" by Percy Bysshe Shelley, which mourns the death of poet John Keats, and "Thyrsis" by Matthew Arnold, which mourns the poet Arthur Hugh Clough. In 17th century England, Andrew
Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady above in his "Journal" on more than one occasion [see December 5, 1750 and July 4, 1786].) Samuel Johnson in his "Lives of the Poets" also faulted the "Elegy" on similar grounds, referring to "the illaudable singularity of treating suicide with respect." A different kind of criticism, one on artistic grounds, is made by Maynard Mack in his important biography "Alexander Pope: A Life." Mack acknowledges that there are beautiful passages in the poem, but also finds that it is marked by a certain incoherence between elements and attitudes which are not fully reconciled, such as the idea of Roman