The Pastoral Elegy is a song from the Old Missouri Harmony Songbook. The mournful song tells the tale of a young shepherd boy named Corydon who died. The name Corydon was a stock name for a shepherd in ancient Greek and Latin pastoral poems and fables, most familiar from its use by Vergil in his Second Eclogue.
The Town of Corydon, Indiana is named after a person in this hymn.
Words of the Pastoral Elegy (1st stanza):
"What sorrowful sounds do I hear,<br/> Move slowly along in the gale,<br/> How solemn they fall on my ear,<br/> As softly they pass through the vale.<br/> Sweet Corydon's notes are all o'er,<br/> Now lonely he sleeps in the clay,<br/> His cheeks bloom with roses no more,<br/> Since death called his spirit away."