Mimnermus (lived 7th century BC)

Greek elegiac poet, a native of Colophon in Ionia. He was the first to use elegiac verse (see elegy) as a vehicle of mourning and erotic feeling. The surviving fragments of his work deal with love, old age, and war. The collection Nanno, the name of a beloved flute-player, contains reflections on the short-lived joys of youth.