INTRO

Thomas Gray (1716-1771) was an English poet, classical scholar, and professor at
Cambridge University. Though he published only a few works during his lifetime, his refined
and contemplative style earned him a lasting place in the canon of English poetry. "Elegy
Written in a Country Churchyard" remains his most famous work, celebrated for its poignant
exploration of life's transient beauty and the dignity of the ordinary.

"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" is a reflective and melancholic poem by Thomas

Gray, first published in 1751. The poem is considered one of the most significant works in
English literature and embodies the themes of mortality, the passage of time, and the
inevitable fate that awaits all humans, regardless of their status in life. Gray wrote this elegy
after the death of his friend Richard West, and it meditates on the lives of the common
people buried in the churchyard, who lived uncelebrated but meaningful lives. The poem's
introspective and universal nature has made it enduringly popular.

"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" consists of 32 quatrains, making up 128 lines in

total. The poem is written in iambic pentameter, meaning each line typically has ten
syllables, with a pattern of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable.

The rhyme scheme of the poem is ABAB, where the first and third lines rhyme with each
other, as do the second and fourth lines of each quatrain. This structured and regular rhyme
scheme contributes to the poem’s contemplative and harmonious tone.

The poem's imagery and allegory work together to create a melancholic yet respectful tribute
to the modest lives of the rural poor, while also reflecting on the universal themes of
mortality, unfulfilled potential, and the leveling effect of death.

Imagery:
Gray employs vivid imagery to paint a picture of the rural countryside and the humble lives of
the villagers buried in the churchyard. He uses natural imagery such as the curfew bell,
grazing cattle, and the ploughman's evening return to evoke a sense of pastoral
tranquility.

Allegory:
The poem can e read as an allegory, with the churchyard representing the final resting place
of common people whose lives went unrecorded and unsung. Gray laments the lost potential
and untapped talents of these individuals, suggesting that among them could have been
"some village Hampden" (a great leader) or "some mute inglorious Milton" (a talented poet).

Graveyard school of poetry

The Graveyard Poets were a group of poets in the 1700s who wrote a lot about graveyards,
death, and sadness. Their poems had a gloomy or melancholy feeling to them.

One of the most famous Graveyard Poets was Thomas Gray. His poem "Elegy Written in a
Country Churchyard" is considered one of the best examples of this type of poetry. In this

1
poem, Gray walks through a country graveyard at night and thinks sadly about the simple
people buried there - farmers, laborers, and ordinary village folk. He wonders if some of
them could have been great leaders, talented writers, or heroes if they had the chance.

Some other notable Graveyard Poets besides Gray were Robert Blair, who wrote "The
Grave," James Hervey with "Meditations Among the Tombs," and Thomas Parnell with
"Night-Piece on Death." While not always the happiest reading, their poems were very
popular and influential in the 1700s. They expressed the melancholy, mortality-focused side
of human nature through vivid graveyard imagery and metaphors.

The Graveyard Poets were influenced by a few things. First, there was a fashion in art and
literature at the time for sadness, melancholy, and thoughts about death. People liked works
that made them feel pensive or gloomy. Second, these poets were often inspired by Night
Thoughts, a long poem by Edward Young about struggling with grief after his wife and
friends died. Young's poem uses graveyards and the night as symbols of sadness and
mortality.

In their poems, the Graveyard Poets frequently described graveyards, with lots of details
about tombstones, skulls, worms eating bodies, and other morbid images. They personified
Death as a character. They also wrote about the nighttime, loneliness, and sadness. Their
poems had a serious, somber tone.

Besides writing about death directly, the Graveyard Poets used graveyards and tombs as
symbols for bigger ideas. Graveyards represented the equality of death - how rich and poor
people are equal once buried. Tombstones symbolized how people's memories fade over
time. Nighttime and solitude represented melancholy emotions.

● Discussion
●
Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” presents the omniscient speaker who talks
to the reader. First, he stands alone in a graveyard deep in thought. While there, he thinks
about the dead people buried there. The graveyard referred to here is the graveyard of the
church in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire. The speaker contemplates the end of human
life throughout the poem. He remarks on the inevitability of death that every individual has to
face.

The poet is present in a village graveyard. It is the time of evening which means that it is a
time of rest from the activities of the day. The evening bell in the church in ringing, and the
cattle are moving slowly over pasture-land. The tired farmer is returning home. By and by the
sun sets and the world is engulfed in darkness. The poet is left all alone. There is a deep
silence all around, which is broken here and there by the sound of the beetle! or of the bells
tied round the neck of the sheep. Another sound which breaks the deep silence of the place
is that of the owl, the melancholy night bird, living in gloom and solitude. Even the air is
characterized as having a “solemn stillness.”The solitary bird is hooting from time to time
from the ivy-grown church tower, as if she were making a complaint to the moon against
those trespassers who are wandering too near her hidden abode, and disturb her peace and
annoy her.

2
The poet sees the graves of the villagers rising here and there in mounds. These are all the
graves of the simple, poor, uneducated and uncultured ancestors of the village who are
sleeping the everlasting sleep of death. The fresh and fragrant morning airs, the twittering of
the swallows, the crowing of the cock, or the bugle of the huntsmen will never waken them
from their sleep. Nobody now waits for them to return home in the evening. Their wives do
not make preparations to receive their husbands in the evening, and their children do not run
forward and jump on their knees to be the first to be patted and kissed by their fathers. The
villagers, when alive, were happy in performing their simple, yet strenuous, duties Some of
their duties were to cut the ripe crops with their scythes, to plough and cultivate the fields,
and to hew down the trees by the powerful strokes of their axes.

Besides mourning the loss of someone, the speaker in the elegy reminds the reader that all
people will die one day.Also, the poet says that the poor are not inferior to the rich in death.
Invariably, every human life ends in death. The beauty, the wealth, the glory all lead to the
unavoidable end. The villager’s grave does not have the grandness in ceremonies and
tombstones.

What is the use of tombstones over the graves of the dead? Can beautiful urns with
inscriptions on them, and life-like statues bring back the dead to life again? No. The soul,
when once it has left the body, can never come back into it again. However highly we may
praise a man after his death, we can never stir his body to activity again, and no words of
flattery can comfort and please his dead ears which have become lifeless and insensible.
The poet remarks, the villagers who were dead would also have talent. There might be a
Milton or a Cromwell buried there. They did not get opportunities to prove themselves. Like
gems hidden deep under the ocean and like desert flowers, they have perished without
notice. Given opportunities, they would have also succeeded. People would have read their
deeds in history.

The villagers did not wish to involve in treachery and deceit. They were honest people and
wished to lead simple lives. So, they kept themselves away from the mad crowd of the cities
and kingdoms. They were true to themselves. They liked peace and honesty. The
tombstones were simple. The language was ordinary. But, there is truth in their
memory.Some of them might have great natural abilities, but they could never develop them
to produce something of lasting value and significance. Some of them might have the ability
to become great poets, or kings, or musicians.The dead villagers rest in the graveyard
without recognition.

There is a similarity between nature and people. In nature, there are many beautiful and
perfect jewels deep in the ocean that people can never find. Similarly, there are many lovely
flowers growing in the wild that no one sees or enjoys. In the same way, there are many
people with special talents, but they never get a chance to develop or show them. These
talents stay hidden and die with them. Among the simple people buried in graveyards, there
might have been someone as brave as John Hampden, as poetic as Milton, or as talented
as Cromwell. But they couldn't develop their abilities and remained unknown because their
simple lives prevented them from achieving greatness. They couldn't contribute to their
country's progress.

3
Also, this poem will be a tribute to them. They lived their lives with morals. They died in the
care of a loving person. And, they closed their eyes with prayers in one’s eyes. One day, a
kind soul may come and enquire after the dead one out of curiosity.

When one dies today, tomorrow, a stranger will see the person’s tombstone. Out of curiosity,
he will ask about the person buried there to a villager. The villager will reply that he knew
the man. He would add that he had seen him in various spots. Sometimes, he will also
remark that he had stopped seeing the man one day, and then there was the tombstone.

The poet expresses the dead man's nostalgic feeling for the world and his desire to be
remembered and honoured after his death in stanzas twenty-two and twenty-three. Life is
made up of both pleasure and pain, yet no one wants to die, no one has ever left the bright
and happy enclosure of this world without casting one longing lingering look behind. Even
the poor when they die wish to be remembered long after their death.

From this elegy, we feel that every dying man desires some dear person to shed tears on his
death in his memory with affection, and also desires to be remembered with love and
sympathy after his death. Even in the ashes of the dead man, there are the sparks of a
craving for love and sympathy of his fellow beings, which is natural in man.

In the poem, Gray, the poet himself, writes the epitaph of his own. He says that his life is full
of sadness and depression. However, he feels proud of his knowledge. He calls it
incomparable. In addition to this, he says that ‘No one is perfect in this world.’ So, he asks
the reader not to judge anyone in the graveyard. Each and every soul is different and takes
rest for eternity in the graveyard. In conclusion, the poet, through the speaker, ends the
elegy by saying that death is an inevitable event in this world. Also, he says that man’s
efforts and his struggles to succeed in life comes to an end in death. Thus, death conquers
man regardless of his successes and/or failures in his endeavors during his life.