BRITISH LITERATURE; 18TH C - Assignment

Submitted by: Chandana S Anand (17/97)

Course: B.A. (Hons) English, II Year, IV Semester

Submitted to: Ms. Rana Sami

Paper: British Literature: 18th Century

Date of submission: 31st of January 2019

Q: ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ by Gray as an Elegy.

“Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is a poem by Gray, contemplated to be

written in memory of Richard West. Who is a very best friend of Gray.

An Elegy is a form of literature that can be described as a poem or song which is

composed as ‘elegiac couplets’, written in honor or memory of someone departed. It
typically mourns the death of the individual. Elegy is derived from the Greek work
‘elegus’, which is a song of bereavement sung along with a flute. This poem fulfills
the purpose of the expression of deepest of feelings rather than describing story.

If there is a period called as of transition, it is during mid 18th Century where there is
the transition from Neo-classism to Romanticism. Gray was one of those neo-classical
poets. The ‘Elegy written in a Country Churchyard is a neo-classical poem as Gray
put forwarded the idea of morality in it and presented an intellect of agreement.

Neo-classical poetry highlights on theme of morality. This work by Gray is not

considered as an elegy according to the definition of elegy as it is not following the
elegiac couplets format. But still it holds the melancholic tone and affection to the
departed soul. No matter who ever it is.

Even though the poem reflects the demise of a dearest friend, there is not a single clue
about the real muse in poem. The name wasn’t mentioned even a single time. That is
because it is not particularly focused on someone’s death. But it is an elegy of many
deaths. From the dying day to many more demises. The beginning is with the
mourning for the death of a day.
BRITISH LITERATURE; 18TH C - Assignment

\\ “The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,” \\

- (1st Line ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ , Gray)

The poem is reveries on final state of human existence, which is death, nevertheless
any exceptions in the further lines. Every journey of human kind halts at the door of
death. He deals with the theme of mortality and death itself. And he could establish
the fact that death is ultimate. He tries to imagine the kinds of lives the dead probably
led.

Gray portrays the purity of village people who thinks about the present and enjoys the
chaos of life. People in country side care the least about themselves as an individual.
Their life’s displacement happens to be zero, as they are born, grown and dead at the
same place only. Shifting to city happens to one among hundreds. The poet echoes in
the village cemetery on the graves of the poor in the representative metaphors evoking
the country vista.

Gray was successful in fusing Neo-classicism and Romanticism into his work
namely, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, which is not a typical elegy.

Gray composed in the poem in quatrains, in which the first line rhymes with the third,
and the second with the fourth. This elegy follows ‘abab’ form. The poem ends with a
three stanza “The Epitaph". That is Thomas Gray writes his own epitaph at the end of
this poem. As the poem proceeds, out of the blue, the speaker envisions himself dead
and buried. May be one can argue that it can be identified as an elegy written for the
self. As we can see these lines which seems like Gray is addressing himself when he
writes:

“For thee, who mindful of the unhonoured dead,

Dost in these lines their artless tale relate,

If chance, by lonely contemplation led,

Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate”

This is an elegy which is not only focused on a single death, but of many. Even
mourns for the day. Poet gives a vision that everything ends at the door step of death.
BRITISH LITERATURE; 18TH C - Assignment

References

 Gray, Thomas, ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’, World view critical

editions, Delhi , Paperback

 https://literarydevices.net/elegy/

 https://design.tutsplus.com/articles/art-history-neoclassicism-and-
romanticism--cms-29025