Gloomy, elegy writer, from what we hear (4)
I believe the answer is:
grey
'gloomy' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I cannot understand how the rest of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for grey that I've seen before include "Colour of ashes" , "Aged; cloudy" , "Tom Pearce's horse" , "Ashen" , "Earl --, tea" .)