Choose adjectives to describe the person. List qualities of the person you remember. Brave, honest, trusting, rebellious or gallant are ideal words.
Describe the setting where the person died, or where she lived or worked. Include a detailed description of "home" for the person. For instance, in the poet Dylan Thomas' poem "Elegy," he writes "On that darkest day, Oh forever may/
He lie lightly, at last, on the last, crossed/ Hill, under the grass, in love, and there grow/Young among the long flocks and never lie lost/.
Include a metaphor or simile to describe the person. Make an unlikely comparison between the person who died and a thing or person. For instance, Dylan Thomas uses the metaphor "the rivers of the dead/veined his poor hand I held," which says that the dying man's hands were filled, not with veins, but with the rivers of the dead. In a simile, use "like," "as," or "than," to make a comparison. For example, write "Her hair, like yellow ribbons on the pilow, I swept one last time into my hands."
Create the poem. Start with a descriptive opening and a narrative, musical body of the poem. Employ techniques, in addition to similes and metaphors, such as alliteration--words strung together that all start with the same letter--apostrophe, using "you" in the poem to address the subject, and powerful, clear imagery.
Practice brevity. While some elegy poems are long and rambling, start with a shorter, concise poem. For instance, focus on the emotions and elements of the story of the death, and the tragedy of the death, which you will always remember clearly. In Dylan Thomas's poem, for example, in writes about the old man's hands, his bones in pain, the man's blindness and "he cried as he died." These unforgettable memories live well in a poem. While you can write much more about what the hospital looks like or the weather that morning, focus intensely on the qualities of the person so that the reader feels like she knows, and can mourn, the deceased person.