ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY COURTYARD-----THOMAS GRAY

POINTS-

 INTRO. OF POET
 INTRO. OF POEM
 SUMMARY
 POEM TEXT
 THEME
 SETTING
 EXPLAINATION
 LITERARY DEVICES
 POETIC DEVICES
 FORM,METER,RHYME
 QUESTIONS
 TITLE JUSTIFICATION

What are the 8 Periods of English Literature? The most important 8 periods of English
Literature are:

1. Old English (Anglo-Saxon Period): 450–1066

2. Middle English Period: 1066-1500
3. Renaissance: 1500-1600
4. Neoclassical Period: 1600-1785
5. Romantic Period: 1785-1832
6. Victorian Age: 1832-1901
7. Edwardian Period: 1901-1914
8. Georgian Period: 1910-1936
9. Modern Period: Early 20th century
10. Postmodern Period: Mid-20th century

elegy. literary : a sad poem or song : a poem or song that expresses sorrow for someone who is
dead.

POET BIOGRAPHY-
HE WAS BORN IN LONDON IN 1716. Gray attended Eton School from 1725 until
1734, when he entered Cambridge University. He left Cambridge in 1738 without
taking a degree, intending to study law in London. HE HATED MATHEMATICS. HE
WAS A VORACIOUS READER AND A MAN OF GREAT LEARING . HE LIVED ALL HIS
LIFE IN PETER HOUSE AND PEMBROKE COLLEGES. HE WROTE ONLY FEW POEMS.
In 1742 Grey wrote his first major poem, “Ode on the Spring,” which he sent to
his close friend Richard West—unknowingly on the very day of West’s death from
tuberculosis. In the next three months Gray wrote “Ode on a Distant Prospect of
Eton College,” “Hymn to Adversity,” and “Sonnet on the Death of Mr. Richard
West.” It is believed that he also worked on “Elegy Written in a Country
Churchyard” during this time, though this poem was not published until 1751.
Gray returned to Cambridge at the end of 1742 and received a Bachelor of Civil
Law degree the next year. Gray lived at the university for most of the rest of his
life, GRAY DIED IN 1771.HE IS A REFLECTIVE POET OF 18TH CENTURY. HIS WIRITNG
WERE OF GREAT QUALITY. HE WAS INFLUENCED BY CLASSICAL POETRY AND
ADMIRED DRYDEN.HE WAS A BORN POET WHO BELONGED TO AN AGE OF
PROSE.HE PUBLISHED ONLY 13 POEMS.

INTRODUCTION TO THE POEM IN REGERENCE TO POET-

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is a poem by Thomas Gray,

completed in 1750 and first published in 1751. [1] The poem's origins are
unknown, but it was partly inspired by Gray's thoughts following the death
of the poet Richard West in 1742. He started writing it in 1742.Originally
titled Stanzas Wrote in a Country Church-Yard, the poem was completed
when Gray was living near St Giles' parish church at Stoke Poges. It was
sent to his friend Horace Walpole, who popularised the poem among
London literary circles. Gray was eventually forced to publish the work on
15 February 1751 in order to preempt a magazine publisher from printing
an unlicensed copy of the poem.
The poem is an elegy in name but not in form; it employs a style similar to
that of contemporary odes, but it embodies a meditation on death, and
remembrance after death. The poem argues that the remembrance can be
good and bad, and the narrator finds comfort in pondering the lives of the
obscure rustics buried in the churchyard. The two versions of the
poem, Stanzas and Elegy, approach death differently; the first contains
a stoic response to death, but the final version contains an epitaph which
serves to repress the narrator's fear of dying.
Claimed as "probably still today the best-known and best-loved poem in
English",[2] the Elegy quickly became popular. It was printed many times
and in a variety of formats, translated into many languages, and praised by
critics even after Gray's other poetry had fallen out of favour. But while
many have continued to commend its language and universal aspects,
some have felt that the ending is unconvincing – failing to resolve the
questions raised by the poem in a way helpful to the obscure rustic poor
who form its central image.
ENGLISH LITERATURE
The poem belongs to neoclassical period (1600-1785)
STRUCTURE OF THE POEM
33 heroic quatrains or 4-line stanzas

SUMMARY
The speaker is hanging out in a churchyard just after the sun goes down. It's dark and a
bit spooky. He looks at the dimly lit gravestones, but none of the grave markers are all
that impressive—most of the people buried here are poor folks from the village, so their
tombstones are just simple, roughly carved stones. 
The speaker starts to imagine the kinds of lives these dead guys probably led. Then he
shakes his finger at the reader, and tells us not to get all snobby about the rough
monuments these dead guys have on their tombs, since, really, it doesn't matter what
kind of a tomb you have when you're dead, anyway. And guys, the speaker reminds us,
we're all going to die someday.

But that gets the speaker thinking about his own inevitable death, and he gets a little
freaked out. He imagines that someday in the future, some random guy (a "kindred
spirit") might pass through this same graveyard, just as he was doing today. And that
guy might see the speaker's tombstone, and ask a local villager about it. And then he
imagines what the villager might say about him.

At the end, he imagines that the villager points out the epitaph engraved on the
tombstone, and invites the passerby to read it for himself. So basically, Thomas Gray
writes his own epitaph at the end of this poem

POEM
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
Now fades the glimm'ring landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds;

Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tow'r

The moping owl does to the moon complain
Of such, as wand'ring near her secret bow'r,
Molest her ancient solitary reign.

Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade,

Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap,
Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn,

The swallow twitt'ring from the straw-built shed,
The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,
No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.

For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,

Or busy housewife ply her evening care:
No children run to lisp their sire's return,
Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.
Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,
Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke;
How jocund did they drive their team afield!
How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!

Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,

Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
The short and simple annals of the poor.

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,

And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike th' inevitable hour.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault,

If Mem'ry o'er their tomb no trophies raise,
Where thro' the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault
The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.

Can storied urn or animated bust

Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust,
Or Flatt'ry soothe the dull cold ear of Death?
Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;
Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway'd,
Or wak'd to ecstasy the living lyre.

But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page

Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll;
Chill Penury repress'd their noble rage,
And froze the genial current of the soul.

Full many a gem of purest ray serene,

The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flow'r is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast

The little tyrant of his fields withstood;
Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.

Th' applause of list'ning senates to command,

The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land,
And read their hist'ry in a nation's eyes,
ADVERTISING

Their lot forbade: nor circumscrib'd alone

Their growing virtues, but their crimes confin'd;
Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne,
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind,

The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,

To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,
Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride
With incense kindled at the Muse's flame.

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,

Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;
Along the cool sequester'd vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.
Yet ev'n these bones from insult to protect,
Some frail memorial still erected nigh,
With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck'd,
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.

Their name, their years, spelt by th' unletter'd muse,

The place of fame and elegy supply:
And many a holy text around she strews,
That teach the rustic moralist to die.
For who to dumb Forgetfulness a prey,
This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd,
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing, ling'ring look behind?

On some fond breast the parting soul relies,

Some pious drops the closing eye requires;
Ev'n from the tomb the voice of Nature cries,
Ev'n in our ashes live their wonted fires.

For thee, who mindful of th' unhonour'd Dead

Dost in these lines their artless tale relate;
If chance, by lonely contemplation led,
Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate,

Haply some hoary-headed swain may say,

"Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn
Brushing with hasty steps the dews away
To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.

"There at the foot of yonder nodding beech

That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high,
His listless length at noontide would he stretch,
And pore upon the brook that babbles by.
"Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,
Mutt'ring his wayward fancies he would rove,
Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn,
Or craz'd with care, or cross'd in hopeless love.

"One morn I miss'd him on the custom'd hill,

Along the heath and near his fav'rite tree;
Another came; nor yet beside the rill,
Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he;

"The next with dirges due in sad array

Slow thro' the church-way path we saw him borne.
Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay,
Grav'd on the stone beneath yon aged thorn."

THE EPITAPH

Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth

A youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown.
Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth,
And Melancholy mark'd him for her own.

Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,

Heav'n did a recompense as largely send:
He gave to Mis'ry all he had, a tear,
He gain'd from Heav'n ('twas all he wish'd) a friend.
No farther seek his merits to disclose,
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,
(There they alike in trembling hope repose)
The bosom of his Father and his God.

Themes
Themes
 The central theme is ‘memento mori’ I.e, ‘remember that you
must die’-death is the predominant theme.a unique elegy bcoz
it does mourn the death of any one person ,but dedicated to
common man.he didn’t mentioned RICHARD WEST death
anywhere though.it is dedicated to all of us common people
who died and go into some grave.
The main themes in "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" are the universality of death,
social class and value, and poetry and posterity.
 The universality of death: Gray's poem depicts death as a leveling force that
brings all people, whether rich or poor, to the same final fate.

 Social class and value: The poem argues against the notion that the poor are less
worthy than the rich. Indeed, Gray suggests that all deserve to be remembered.

 Poetry and posterity: Gray's speaker is a poet, and as he memorializes others in

his melancholic mode, he is aware of his own finitude.

Death

Gray’s “Elegy” is one of the best-known poems about death in all of European
literature. The poem presents the reflections of an observer who, passing by a
churchyard that is out in the country, stops for a moment to think about the
significance of the strangers buried there. Scholars of medieval times sometimes
kept human skulls on their desktops, to keep themselves conscious of the fact that
someday they, like the skulls’ former occupants, would die: from this practice we get
the phrase memento mori, which we say to this day to describe any token one uses
to keep one’s mortality in mind. In this poem, the graveyard acts as a memento
mori, reminding the narrator to not place too much value on this life because
someday he too will be dead and buried. The speaker of the poem is surrounded by
the idea of death, and throughout the first seven stanzas there are numerous
images pointing out the contrast between death and life. After mentioning the
churchyard in the title, which establishes the theme of mortality, the poem itself
begins with images of gloom and finality. The darkness at the end of the day, the
forlorn moan of lowing cattle, the stillness of the air (highlighted by the beetle’s
stilted motion) and the owl’s nocturnal hooting all serve to set a background for this
serious meditation. However, it is not until the fourth stanza that the poem actually
begins to deal with the cemetery, mentioned as the place where the village
forefathers “sleep.” In the following stanzas, the speaker tries to imagine what the
lives of these simple men might have been like, touching upon their relations with
their wives, children, and the soil that they worked. They are not defined by their
possessions, because they had few, and instead are defined by their actions, which
serves to contrast their lives with their quiet existence in the graveyard. This “Elegy”
presents the dead in the best light: their families adored them and they were
cheerful in their work, as they “hummed the woods beneath their steady stroke.” The
speaker openly admits that they are spoken of so well precisely because they are
dead, because death is such a terrible thing that its victims deserve the respect of
the living. In line 90, the poet explains, “Some pious drops the closing eye requires,”
explaining that the living should show their respect for death with their sorrow.

Search for Self

The speaker of this poem goes through a process of recognizing what is important
to him and choosing how to live his life (which leads to the epitaph with which he
would like to be remembered). In stanza 8, the poem begins naming the attributes
that are normally considered desirable but are now considered pointless when
compared with the lives of the rustic dead in the country graveyard. Ambition and
Grandeur, according to the speaker, should not think less of these people because
of their simple accomplishments. He goes on to assert that Pride and Memory have
no right to ignore them, and that Honor and Flattery will be as useless to the rich as
to the poor when they are dead. The speaker, an educated person, gives much
consideration to the subject of Knowledge, and whether the lack of it made the lives
of these country people less significant. Their poverty blocked the way to
knowledge, he decides, and the lack of knowledge separated them from vices as
well as virtues, so that in the end he does not consider his education a factor in
making him better or worse than them either. In the end, having eliminated all of the
supposed benefits of the wealthy, educated world that he comes from, the speaker
identifies himself with the graveyard inhabitants to such a degree that he winds up in
this humble graveyard after his death. In contrast to the simple graves that he
pondered over throughout his life, though, the speaker’s grave is marked with a
warm-hearted memorial, the “Epitaph” at the end of the poem. Assuming that such a
thoughtful person would not have been so immodest as to write this epitaph for
himself, there must have been some other literate person to remember him. He is
also remembered by an illiterate member of the farm community, the “hoary-headed
swain” who has to ask someone to read the epitaph. Before the death of the poem’s
narrator, this Swain established a nonverbal relationship with him, observing him
from afar, wondering

What is the main idea of Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard?

Death the over reaching is the main theme in Elegy Written in a country Churchyard, is the inevitable fate of
humanity regardless of wealth, power, and status.
SETTING-

ST.GILES PARISH CHURCH AT STOKE POGE.

Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" takes place—you guessed it—in a
country churchyard. And that means that it was written among all the gravestones of the
dead members of that church. It's shaded by elm and yew trees, and there's an owl
hooting in the background. Spooky, right?

But it's not supposed to be a spooky poem—this isn't about dead people coming back to
haunt the living, it's about how the living remember the dead. And as the speaker
imagines what these dead people's lives were like, the setting of the poem shifts—the
speaker imagines their everyday lives in their country cottages. Most of these people
were farmers, so he imagines them plowing their fields, and coming home to their wives
and children at night.
But then the speaker imagines what people will say about him, when he dies, and the
setting of the poem shifts again. Now we're in the shoes of some passerby who
happens to see the name of the poet on a gravestone, and happens to ask someone
what he was like. The speaker imagines that he'll be remembered mostly as a
thoughtful guy who loved nature, who was often seen lost in thought under a tree or by
the creek.

So, in spite of the poem's title, the setting really isn't creepytown. The emphasis is on
the average, everyday, simple "country" part of the setting. There are lots of trees, and
creeks, and farms, and no ghosts in the graveyard at all—unless you count the
memories of the past that we all carry with us.

EXPLAINATION

STANZA 1 -The curfew tolls…..ANCIENT SOLITARY REIGN

EXPLAINATION-curfew denotes church ,parting day-evening, lowing herd-cattle

going back to home,plowman-farmer also go back to home.everyone go home
and the poet is now left alone.the light is now fading slowly and its being dark and
there is silence.the solemn stillness/silence gets disturbed by beetle sound and
another sound is of drowsy tinklings at a distant folds.(folds-where sheeps are
kept)and another voice he hear is of the owl who is complaining to the moon ,
sitting at atower covered full of ivy plants and making a sad sound of moping.the
owl is disturbed by the poet as during night he is the ruler but today poet is
standing and molesting its privacy .

In the sentence ‘the plowman homeward plods his weary way’ has adjective
epitet where adjective is weary way for plowman.

STANZA 2 – Beneath those rugged……..their sturdy stroke

EXPLAINATION-the poet standing their are rugged trees,he can see many graves
rising and each narrow cell ie grave are each other who are rude fathers or old
fathers of the village ,he talk about them (the garve people) . all of them are gone
to a world from where they won;t come back , in morning their is sound of cock ,
horn sound echoing ,but none of these sound will awake the forefathers from
their eternal sleeping at hamlet in their lowly bed.

These people who are lying in the bed will miss the immense pleasure of life,
when they were alive their wife would have care for them and care for them in
the evening when they come back after work,she lights fire for him and the
children would run to father and gets father kiss-(envied kiss-everyone wants
father kiss but now they won’t be able to experience all these pleasures in their
graveyard.

When these people were alive they used to work so hard and harvest wheat with
the help of sickle. They would have broke the glebe(mud in ground which become
tight in winter)which farmers had to break with their full energy. And they drive
the ox(jocund) team and cut down the trees for firing to get woods.

STANZA 3 –LET NOT AMBITION...COLD ERA OF DEATH

EXPLAINATION-When i talk about this poor people who lived very uneven life so
the rich people the ambitious people make fun of them , so here the poet says
rich people should not mock poor people/toiling people(toil-hardworking)these
people not work for themselves but also feed others, they live joyfully, their
destiny/life is not obscure(famous) so the rich ambitious people should not mock
them.grandeur here refer to noble life of rich people .the poor doesn’t have any
disdainful smile for the rich.

He gives reason to rich people says the power , beauty , all wealth doesn’t matter
as death comes to everyone in any hour it is waiting for all.even if you are glorious
doesn’t matter these paths of glory will lead you to the grave.remember you must
die.

Now he continues , (poet knew how elite people behave with poor / village )Don’t
blame these poor people for not having rich tombes or trophies Or a ornamented
grave or a great vault , no pealing anthem is done for them .

Than he ask the rich that though your ashes might be stored in a marbled box but
will it bring you back whether you are kept in a freted vault or not itwon’t bring
you back. Will your silence dust ie ashes won’t bring you back.

STANZA 4:PERHAPS IN THIS NEGLECTED............................GUILTINESS OF HIS

COUNTRY’S BLOOD

EXPLAINATION- Now here the poet says that may be these people had a
different fate if they had born in a palace they might have turned out to be a
famous people, they might have neglected the opportrunity to rule
something.they could have become soldiers or politiciansand ruled the empire
,they would have the immense capability to create music , sing well but the poor
people never get the knowledge the opp. To study their eyes could not see the
ample page ie the opportunity. They died without education which is not their
fault.their knowledge about life never reached to rich people rolled to
them.because of poverty they were unable to get education.(penuary-
poverty).they might have been sculpture,painter , teacher but all it got frozened
and they died.

3 stanza he says in the deep down oceans their is a gem of purest ray ,beautiful
caves unknown caves they are undiscovered ,they might be gems , pearls purest
lying.or may be flowers lying in desert which might bloom and unseen as nobody
is to seen them.
The poet has compared the poor people to 3 stanza saying just like these
elements undiscovered the poor people talent is also undiscovered.who might
have gifted talent.

4 stanza he says their might have been people from poor dead people who have
the talent like dauntless breast-bravest heart like HAMPDEN, poet like Milton but
had to remain mute and their could have been CROMWELL who had been a great
leader and guiltless(not guilty) of his country blood like Cromwell

STANZA 5:THE APPLAUSE OF LISTNING SENATES..............NOISELESS TENOR OF

THEIR WAY.

EXPLAINATION-here the poet talks about the things not given to these people
.these people might have become the singer , leader and the senates would have
been applaused them, they could have become soldiers and would remove the
threats of pain and ruin as they are brave. If they were king , might have spread
happiness and prosperity to their people so when people read their history the
nation remember him as a great hero but all was forbidden to these people.just
like the virtue of these famous people is denied to these poor people , even their
crime is denied to them.

As these people lived in villages they didn’t had to indulge themselves into these
slaughter ,killing people .behaving mercilessly with others, punishing , torturing ,
molesting .they had to tell lies , hide truth to be powerful ,support the rascals or
shaddy people , suffering insult from other (quench-have, blush-red due to
shame) sometimes the poet had to write to please the kings glory to favour them
forcefully, paint the picture.none of these humiliation poor people had to
suffer.these people lived happy serene life like the novel far from the madding
crowds. These people not lived in hustle , crowd like in village its happy simple,no
bother to maintain status and had sober wishes , everything they wanted were
satisfying withing the village circle .they maintained smooth , noiseless , no
complain , happy peaceful life without any glamour .

STANZA 6:YET E’EN THESE BONES......LIVED THEIR WONTED FIRES

EXPLAINATION:It is true that they didn’t had any villas but attempts were made to
protect their insult

Poem EXPLAINATION
Lines 1-4

In the first stanza, the speaker observes the signs of a country day drawing to a
close: a curfew bell ringing, a herd of cattle moving across the pasture, and a farm
laborer returning home. The speaker is then left alone to contemplate the isolated
rural scene. The first line of the poem sets a distinctly somber tone: the curfew bell
does not simply ring; it “knells”—a term usually applied to bells rung at a death or
funeral. From the start, then, Gray reminds us of human mortality.

Lines 5-8

The second stanza sustains the somber tone of the first: the speaker is not
mournful, but pensive, as he describes the peaceful landscape that surrounds him.
Even the air is characterized as having a “solemn stillness.”

Lines 9-12

The sound of an owl hooting intrudes upon the evening quiet. We are told that the
owl “complains”; in this context, the word does not mean “to whine” or “grumble,” but
“to express sorrow.” The owl’s call, then, is suggestive of grief. Note that at no point
in these three opening stanzas does Gray directly refer to death or a funeral; rather,
he indirectly creates a funereal atmosphere by describing just a few mournful
sounds.

Lines 13-16

It is in the fourth stanza that the speaker directly draws our attention to the graves in
the country churchyard. We are presented with two potentially conflicting images of
death. Line 14 describes the heaps of earth surrounding the graves; in order to dig a
grave, the earth must necessarily be disrupted. Note that the syntax of this line is
slightly confusing. We would expect this sentence to read “Where the turf heaves”—
not “where heaves the turf”: Gray has inverted the word order. Just as the earth has
been disrupted, the syntax imitates the way in which the earth has been disrupted.
But by the same token, the “rude Forefathers” buried beneath the earth seem
entirely at peace: we are told that they are laid in “cells,” a term which reminds us of
the quiet of a monastery, and that they “sleep.”
Lines 17-20

If the “Forefathers” are sleeping, however, the speaker reminds us that they will
never again rise from their “beds” to hear the pleasurable sounds of country life that
the living do. The term “lowly beds” describes not only the unpretentious graves in
which the forefathers are buried, but the humble conditions that they endured when
they were alive.

Lines 21-24

The speaker then moves on to consider some of the other pleasures the dead will
no longer enjoy: the happiness of home, wife, and children.

Lines 25-28

The dead will also no longer be able to enjoy the pleasures of work, of plowing the
fields each day. This stanza points to the way in which the “Elegy Written in a
Country Churchyard” contains elements of both Augustan and Romantic poetry.
Poetry that describes agriculture—as this one does—is called georgic. Georgic
verse was extremely popular in the eighteenth century. Note, however, that Gray
closely identifies the farmers with the land that they work. This association of man
and nature is suggestive of a romantic attitude. The georgic elements of the stanza
almost demand that we characterize it as typical of the eighteenth century, but its
tone looks forward to the Romantic period.

Lines 29-32

The next four stanzas caution those who are wealthy and powerful not to look down
on the poor. These lines warn the reader not to slight the “obscure” “destiny” of the
poor—the fact that they will never be famous or have long histories, or “annals,”
written about them.

Lines 33-36

This stanza invokes the idea of memento mori (literally, a reminder of mortality). The
speaker reminds the reader that regardless of social position, beauty, or wealth, all
must eventually die.

Lines 37-40

The speaker also challenges the reader not to look down on the poor for having
modest, simple graves. He suggests, moreover, that the elaborate memorials that
adorn the graves of the “Proud” are somehow excessive. In this context, the word
“fretted” in line 39 has a double meaning: on the one hand, it can refer to the design
on a cathedral ceiling; on the other hand, it can suggest that there is something
“fretful,” or troublesome, about the extravagant memorials of the wealthy.

Lines 41-44

The speaker observes that nothing can bring the dead back to life, and that all the
advantages that the wealthy had in life are useless in the face of death. Neither
elaborate funeral monuments nor impressive honors can restore life. Nor can flattery
in some way be used to change the mind of death. Note here Gray’s use of
personification in characterizing both “flattery” and “death”—as though death has a
will or mind of its own.

Lines 45-48

The speaker then reconsiders the poor people buried in the churchyard. He wonders
what great deeds they might have accomplished had they been given the
opportunity: one of these poor farmers, the speaker reasons, might have been a
great emperor; another might have “waked … the living lyre,” or been a great poet or
musician.

Lines 49-52

The poor were never able to fulfill their political and artistic potential, however,
because they were uneducated—they never received the “Knowledge” that would
enable them to rule and to create. Instead, “Penury,” or poverty, “froze the genial
current of their soul.” That is, poverty paralyzed their ability to draw upon their
innermost passions—the very passions that could have inspired them to become
great poets or politicians.

Lines 53-56

In a series of analogies, Gray observes that the talents of the poor are like a “gem”
hidden in the ocean or a “flower” blooming in the desert. Just as an unseen flower in
the desert is a “waste,” Gray suggests, the uneducated talents of the poor are also a
“waste,” because they remain unused and undeveloped.

Lines 57-60

The speaker then compares these poor, uneducated people to three of the most
famous and powerful people of the previous century: John Hampden, a
parliamentary leader who defended the people against the abuses of Charles I; John
Milton, the great poet who wrote Paradise Lost and who also opposed Charles I;
and Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England from 1653 to 1658. The speaker
suggests that buried in this churchyard might be someone who—like Hampden,
Milton, or Cromwell—had the innate ability to oppose tyranny, but never had the
opportunity to exercise that ability.

Lines 61-64

This person, the speaker reasons, with the proper education and resources, might
have “commanded” the government as well as any great political leader. Note,
however, that Gray gives us two ways in which to consider this power. On the one
hand, a great ruler can receive applause and can ignore “threats of pain and ruin.” A
great leader can “scatter plenty,” can offer prosperity, to a grateful nation. But on the
other hand, if one governs, one is, in fact, exposed to dangerous threats. And simply
governing to receive “applause” suggests a shallow and self-serving motive.
Moreover, “scattering plenty” implies that the wealth of a nation can be squandered
by its rulers. Gray may be suggesting that having power is not as desirable as it
seems. Note that the final line of this stanza is enjambed; it continues into the
following line—and in this case, the next stanza.

Lines 65-68

The first line of this stanza continues the thought of the previous, enjambed line. It
abruptly reminds us that the impoverished conditions of the poor “forbade” them
from becoming great rulers. Gray underscores the abrupt shock of this idea by
abruptly interrupting the flow of the line with a caesura. Building on the idea of the
previous stanza, the speaker notes that if poverty prevented the country laborers
from acquiring the “virtues” of great and powerful people, it also prevented them
from committing the “crimes” often associated with those people—and especially
with those people who hold political power. In particular, it prevented them from
engaging in the bloody activity associated with the British Civil War.

Lines 69-72

Because these farm laborers were not in positions of power, the speaker reasons,
they never had to ignore their own consciences. Nor did they sacrifice their artistic
talents (the gift of the “Muse”) to “Luxury” or “Pride.”

Lines 73-76

The speaker continues his praise of the simple life of common people. They are “far
from the madding crowd” of city and political life. “Madding” here can mean either
“maddening” (that is, the source of madness or insanity) or it can mean “mad” (that
is, the crowd is itself hatefully insane). In either case, the common country people
were removed from this insane world; as a result, they never “strayed” into the
immoral acts of the powerful. Instead, they kept steadily to their simple but
meaningful lives.
Lines 77-80

The speaker then reminds us that these common people are, in fact, long dead. He
notes that even if they were not powerful or great, and even if they do not have an
elaborate memorial of the sort mentioned in line 38, they still deserve homage or
tribute. At the very least, he suggests, an onlooker should “sigh” on seeing their
graves. Note here the multiple meanings we can attach to the word “passing.” It can
refer to the onlooker, who is simply walking or “passing by” these graves. It can
mean “in passing”—that someone seeing these graves should take just a moment
out of their busy lives to remember the dead. And “passing” itself is a euphemism for
death. In a way, then, Gray is suggesting that there is no difference between the
person “passing” by the grave and the person who has “passed” away—another
reminder that all will eventually die.

Lines 81-84

Instead of “fame and elegy,” the people buried here have modest tombstones, which
display only their names and the dates of their birth and death. These common
people were not famous, and no one has written elaborate elegies or funeral verses
for them. Still, the very modesty of their tomb-stones testifies to the nobility and
“holy” nature of their simple lives. As such, they provide an example not so much of
how life should be lived, but how its end, death, should be approached. The term
“rustic moralist” here is open to interpretation. It may refer to anyone who is in the
countryside thinking about the meaning of death. But more likely, it refers to the
speaker, who is himself moralizing—preaching or contemplating—about the nature
of both life and death.

Lines 85-88

The speaker reasons that most people, faced with the prospect of dying and
ultimately being forgotten, cling to life. Note Gray’s use of paradox in line 86: “this
pleasing anxious being.” On the one hand, “being” or living can be “anxious,” filled
with worries. On the other hand, just being alive— when faced with death—is itself
“pleasing” or pleasant. The speaker is suggesting that even the troubles and worries
of life are enjoyable in comparison to death.

Lines 89-92

The dead rely on the living to remember them and to mourn for them. The speaker
suggests that this need is so fundamental that even from the grave the buried dead
seem to ask for remembrance. In fact, as line 92 suggests, the dead actually live on
in our memories.
Lines 93-96

In this stanza, the speaker addresses himself. He reasons that since he himself has
been mindful of the dead, and has remembered and praised them in this poem,
perhaps when he is dead someone will remember him. This person, he reasons, will
necessarily be a “kindred Spirit,” someone who is also a lonely wanderer in the
country, meditating on the nature of death. The speaker then goes on to imagine his
own death: he envisions this “kindred Spirit” seeing his (the speaker’s) grave and
wondering about his life and death.

Lines 97-100

In the next five stanzas, the speaker imagines how an old farm laborer might
remember him after his death. If, the speaker speculates, the “kindred Spirit” sees
the speaker’s grave and wonders about it, perhaps an old man might offer to
describe the speaker. The old man would say that the speaker was often seen
wandering about the countryside at dawn. Presumably, he was frequently out all
night—as, no doubt, he has been in this very poem.

Lines 101-104

At noon, the old man continues, the speaker would frequently stretch out under an
old tree at noon, and stare at a nearby brook.

Lines 105-108

The old man would have observed that the speaker’s moods were changeable:
sometimes the speaker would wander about in the nearby woods, “smiling
scornfully” and talking to himself; other times, he would appear depressed; then
again, sometimes he would look as though he were in anguish. Perhaps, the old
man speculates, the speaker had been “crossed in hopeless love.”

Lines 109-112

The speaker continues to imagine this old man remembering him after his death.
The old man would have noticed one morning that the speaker was absent: he was
not in any of his favorite spots. Likewise, the old man would remember, the speaker
did not appear the following day.

Lines 113-116

The third day, however, the old man and his friends would have seen the speaker’s
body being carried to the churchyard for burial. (The speaker, then, is imagining
himself buried in the very graveyard he once used to wander by.) The old man
invites this curious passerby, or “kindred Spirit,” to read the speaker’s epitaph. Note
the reminder that the old man is uneducated: he cannot read, although the passerby
can do so.

Lines 117-120

The last three stanzas are, in fact, the speaker’s epitaph; the way in which the
speaker imagines his epitaph will read. Through the epitaph, the speaker asks the
passerby (and the reader) not to remember him as wealthy, famous, or brilliantly
educated, but as one who was “melancholic” or deeply thoughtful and sad.

Lines 121-124

The speaker asks that we remember him for being generous and sincere. His
generosity was, in fact, his willingness to mourn for the dead. Because he was so
generous, the speaker reasons, heaven gave him a “friend”—someone who would,
in turn, mourn for him after his death. This friend is unnamed, but we can deduce
that it is any “kindred Spirit”—including the reader—who reads the speaker’s epitaph
and remembers him.

Lines 125-128

The speaker concludes by cautioning the reader not to praise him any further. He
also asks that his “frailties,” his flaws or personal weaknesses, not be considered;
rather, they should be left to the care of God, with whom the speaker now resides.
The poem, then, is an elegy not only for the common man, but for the speaker
himself. Indeed, by the end of the poem it is evident that the speaker himself wishes
to be identified not with the great and famous, but with the common people whom he
has praised and with whom he will, presumably, be buried.

CRITICAL APPRECIATION

Among the most famous and finest elegies in English Literatures ' Elegy written in
a country churchyard' remains immortal. 'Elegy written in a Country Churchyard'
was penned down by Thomas Gray and it is completed around Seven Years. the
poem was contemplated upon the village of stokes pages after the death of gray's
school friend 'Richard West' and hence the Gray. West is the obscure young
person who died with his ambition unfulfilled. Death the over reaching is the main
theme in Elegy Written in a country Churchyard, is the inevitable fate of humanity
regardless of wealth, power, and status. Once the poet visited a country
Churchyard, where he saw the graves of the forefathers of the village seeing their
graves, he was moved to sympathy for them and set to writing this poem in their
honour. Thus the poem was inspired by the poet's visit to a country Churchyard,
So the title is 'Elegy written in a Country Churchyard'. Gray's elegy deals with the
short and simple annals of the poor. In fact it gives a complete picture of the life
and history of the poor people living in the villages. They worked hard on their
fields all day. When it was evening they walked wearily home with their team of
Oxen. When their children and wives saw them coming, they cook food for them.
But they are dead now and can no longer to enjoy homely joys. They can no
longer to enjoy the sweet smell of the morning breeze and they can no longer to
enjoy the swallows. The house fire no longer to burns for them. And their wives
and children no longer to wait for them in the evening. These people were strong
study fellows. They could plough the hardest ground. Even the biggest tree fell to
the strong stroke of their axes. Some of them were capable of ruling an empire,
and some of them were great musicians. But because of their poverty, they did
not get the opportunity to prove their work. Some of these people were brave
and fearless like Hampden. Some of them were well learned like Milton. And
some of them were as heroic as Cromwell. But they did not get the opportunity to
show their worth. Those who ambitious to become famous shed a lot of blood to
rise to power. Because these people had no such ambitions, they were saved
from living a life of sinful pleasures. They lived away from the madding crowd of
corrupt people. They lived a peaceful and contended life. These people are
worthy of our respect.

LITERARY DEVICES

literary devices are tools used by writers and poets to convey their emotions, feelings, and ideas
to the readers. Thomas Gray has also used many literary devices to make the poem appealing.
Here is the analysis of some literary devices used in this poem.

1. Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line such as the sound of
/o/ in “There at the foot of yonder nodding beech” and the sound of /i/ in “Hands, that the rod
of empire might have sway’d”.
2. Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line such as the
sound of /r/ in “Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay” and the sound of /l/ in “And all
the air a solemn stillness holds”.
3. Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick
succession such as the sound of /h/ in “Haply some hoary-headed swain may say” and the sound
 of /w/ in “The plowman homeward plods his weary way”, and the sound of /l/ in “Or wak’d to
ecstasy the living lyre”.
4. Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. For
example, “There at the foot of yonder nodding beech”, “The next with dirges due in sad array”
and “Each in his narrow cell forever laid.”
5. Personification: Personification is to give human qualities to inanimate objects. For example,
“Let not Ambition mock their useful toil”, “Or Flatt’ry soothe the dull cold ear of Death” and
“But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page.”
6. Enjambment: It is defined as a thought in verse that does not come to an end at a line break;
instead, it rolls over to the next line. For example,

“The next with dirges due in sad array

Slow thro’ the church-way path we saw him borne.”

Poetic Devices Used in “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is the analysis of
some of the poetic devices used in this rhyme.

1. Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of verses and lines. There are thirty-two stanzas in this poem,
each comprises of four lines.
2. Quatrain: A quatrain is a four lined stanza. Here, each stanza is quatrain.
3. Rhyme Scheme: The poem follows the ABAB rhyme scheme and this pattern continuous till the
end.
4. End Rhyme: End rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. For example, “array/lay”,
“dawn/lawn” and “hide/pride.”

POINTS-
Speaker or Narrator, and Point of View
The poet himself is the sole narrator - first-person point of view with occasional shifting to third
person point of view.
Form and Meter
The poem uses heroic quatrain rhyming ABAB. Iambic pentameter with several substitutions.
Metaphors and Similes
The villagers are compared to some historical figures like Hampden, Milton, Cromwell. The
narrator's sorrowful mood is similar to that of the surrounding nature.
Alliteration and Assonance
"The ploughman homeward plods his weary way" and "Haply some hoary headed swine may
say" are the two lines for the example alliteration and assonance. There are h, p, s, and w sounds
repeated before several words in a single line.
Irony
The narrator speaks as if he don't care about name and fame. But in the last few stanzas of the
poem "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" he is eager to be remembered and honored after
his death.
Genre
Poem
Setting
The poem was composed in 1750 AD near a graveyard of a country church.
Tone
Pessimistic, loving, anxious.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The narrator and the poor villagers are protagonist. The rich and urban people are the antagonist.
Major Conflict
Conflict of life and death; the poor and the rich; the village life and the urban life.
Climax
Climax occurs when the poet hails the villagers like some potential but unlucky people. They
have enough potential to be great leaders.
Foreshadowing
The poem foreshadows the death of the poet. He has written his own epitaph.
Understatement
The poet wants to be remembered after his demise and he cannot state it directly. So he
understates in the last few stanzas that everybody desires that his friends and relatives will shed
some tear in his remembrance.
Allusions
Many historical figures are alluded to in the poem e.g. Cromwell, Milton. Muse is a literary
allusion. God and father are biblical allusions.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
Many concrete things are used to represent abstract ideas. Such as the celestial fire represents
divine power; the rod of empire represents royal power; and the living lyre represents beauty and
artistic power.
For synecdoche, "Dauntless breast" or "heart" are used to indicate human body or man.
Personification
Many abstract matters are personified - such as knowledge, pride, honor, grandeur etc. - and their
initial letters are capitalized.
Hyperbole
The idea and consequence of death on human life is exaggerated. The poet says "paths of glory
lead but to the grave."
Onomatopoeia
Cock's shrill clarion, twittering of swallows, beetle, drowsy tinkling, knell are onomatopoeic
words used in the poem.

TITLE JUSTIFICATION
The title of this poem seems pretty straightforward: it announces the genre of the poem
and the place where it was written. But let's think a little more about that—an elegy is a
mournful, sad poem, especially one that was written to mourn for the dead. And it was,
in fact, written (or at least takes place) in a country churchyard. But if this is an elegy,
whom is it mourning?
At the start of the poem, the speaker is mourning for the deaths of all the simple country
folks who are buried in the churchyard. And by the end of the poem, he is imagining his
own death. Some critics think that the poem was inspired by the death of Gray's best
friend, Richard West, although West is never mentioned in this poem. So…what do you
think? Is the speaker mourning death, in general? Is he mourning for his friend? Or is he
really just mourning for his own mortality?

QUESTIONS

What are some figures of speech in Thomas Gray's poem "Elegy Written in a Country
Churchyard"?

What is the main message of "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"?

Write a critical appreciation of Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard."  

What is the significance of the epitaph in the poem "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"?

Who is the speaker in "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"?

At what time of day does the speaker find himself in the country churchyard?

What is the scene in the churchyard given in lines 1-20 of "Elegy Written in a Country
Churchyard"?

What is Gray's attitude towards the elegy?

Explain the poem "The Country Churchyard".  

What could be some possible analysis points of "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"?
Compare and contrast the voice and form of Clifton and Gray's poems. Compare and contrast
the author's voice in Lucille Clifton’s “at the cemetery, walnut grove plantation, South Carolina,
1989,” and Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.”
In what ways does the poem "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" relate to issues of fame
and reputation, peaceful ways of life, and ambition?