Editing Lament (section)

{{Short description|Literary genre}}
{{Other uses|Lament (disambiguation)|Lamentation (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Treny normal.jpg|thumb|right|[[Jan Kochanowski]] with dead daughter in painting inspired by the poet's ''[[Laments (Kochanowski)|Laments]]'']]

A '''lament''' or '''lamentation''' is a passionate expression of [[grief]], often in [[music]], [[poetry]], or [[song]] form. The grief is most often born of [[regret]], or [[mourning]]. Laments can also be expressed in a verbal manner in which participants lament about something that they regret or someone that they have lost, and they are usually accompanied by wailing, [[complaint|moaning]] and/or [[crying]].<ref>Piotr Michalowski, trans., Lamentation over the Destruction of Sumer and Ur (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1989), 39–62; cited in Nancy Lee, Lyrics of Lament: From Tragedy to Transformation (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2009)</ref> Laments constitute some of the oldest forms of writing, and examples exist across human cultures.