1. Elegy Written in a
Country Churchyard
By Thomas Gray

2. 2
Course title: eng2216
Teacher: Areej Al-Omrani
Contents:
1. Mid-Late Eighteenth Century
2. Thomas Gray
3. The background of the poem
4. The poetic form
References:
1.Paul Goring, Eighteenth Century Literature & Culture
2.William Harmon, The Poetry Toolkit
3.Cleanth Brooks, Understanding Poetry
4.Jonathan D. Culler, Structuralist Poetics
5.The British Encyclopedia
6.Various websites

3. 3
The Political Features of Mid-Late Eighteenth Century
The most striking political feature of the times was the rise of constitutional and
party government. The two main parties were so well balanced that power shifted
easily from one to the other. To overturn a Tory or a Whig cabinet only a few votes
were necessary, and to influence such votes London was flooded with pamphlets.
Even before the great newspapers appeared, the press had become a mighty
power in England, and any writer with a talent for argument or satire was almost
certain to be hired by party leaders. Addison, Steele, Defoe, Swift,--most of the
great writers of the age were, on occasion, the willing servants of the Whigs or
Tories. So the new politician replaced the old nobleman as a patron of letters.
Leaders of Great Britain
George II (1683-1760) he is depicted as a weak buffoon, governed by his wife
and ministers. He was born in Germany and German is his first language. He had
no interest in reading, or in the arts and sciences, and preferred to spend his leisure
hours stag-hunting on horseback or playing cards.
George III (1738-1820) his reputation in America was one of a tyrant and in
Britain he became "the scapegoat for the failure of imperialism". He is often
remembered as "The Mad King" and "The King Who Lost America".
Social Life
Another feature of the age was the rapid development of social life. In earlier
ages the typical Englishman had lived much by himself; his home was his castle,
and in it he developed his intense individualism; but in the first half of the
eighteenth century some three thousand public coffeehouses and a large number
of private clubs appeared in London alone; and the sociability of which these
clubs were an expression was typical of all English cities. Meanwhile country life
was in sore need of refinement. The influence of this social life on literature was
inevitable. Nearly all writers frequented the coffeehouses, and matters discussed
there became subjects of literature; hence the enormous amount of eighteenth-
century writing devoted to transient affairs, to politics, fashions, gossip. Moreover,
as the club leaders set the fashion in manners or dress, in the correct way of taking
snuff or of wearing wigs and ruffles, so the literary leaders emphasized formality or
correctness of style, and to write prose like Addison, or verse like Pope, became
the ambition of aspiring young authors.

4. 4
Spread of Empire
Two other significant features of the age were the large part played by England
in Continental wars, and the rapid expansion of the British empire. These
Continental wars, which have ever since influenced British policy, seem to have
originated (aside from the important matter of self-interest) in a double motive: to
prevent any one nation from gaining overwhelming superiority by force of arms,
and to save the smaller "buffer" states from being absorbed by their powerful
neighbors. The expansion of the empire, on the whole the most marvelous feature
of English history, received a tremendous impetus in this age when India, Australia
and the greater part of North America were added to the British dominions, and
when Captain Cook opened the way for a belt of colonies around the whole
world.
Poetry (pre-romanticism)
The Pre-Romanticism is a cultural movement in Europe from about the 1740s
onward that preceded and presaged the artistic movement known as
Romanticism1 . Chief among these tends was a shift in public taste away from the
grandeur, austerity, nobility, idealization, and elevated sentiments of Neoclassicism
or Classicism toward simpler, more sincere, and more natural forms of expression.
This new emphasis partly reflected the taste of growing middle class, who found
the refined and elegant art forms patronized by aristocratic society to be artificial
and overly sophisticated; the bourgeoisie favoured more realistic artistic vehicles
that were more emotionally accessible.
Inspiration
The Pre-Romantic artist, musician, or writer, is an “inspired creator” rather than a
“technical master.” Meaning that, they were “going with the moment” or being
spontaneous, rather than “getting it precise.” Among many things that inspired the
writers of this era is the writings of Jean-JAcques Rousseau, a Swiss philosopher who
wrote once that people were born free but that everywhere civilization put them
in chains. Also they were influenced by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a German
writer whose novel The Sorrows of Young Werther provided the basis for much of
this age.
11800-1840, a partly reaction to the Industrial Revolution, it was also against aristocratic social and
political norms of the Age of Enlightenment and a reaction against the scientific rationalization of
nature.

5. 5
Outstanding Figures
William Blake (1757-1821) For him, nature in its glorious state epitomized the
state of innocence. It provided a clear vision of how life should be and showed the
way for children and adults to behave. Blooming nature, flowers, lambs and
shepherds illustrate the Songs of Innocence. By contrast, the Songs of Experience
are characterized by dark forests, sick flowers, and destroyed gardens.
Robert Burns (1759-17960), he is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic
movement, and after his death he became a great source of inspiration to the
founders of both liberalism and socialism, and a cultural icon in Scotland.
Horatio Walpole (1717-1797) the father of gothic novel, the novel of mystery
and terror, The Castle of Ortanto, his most famous novel is set in the Middle Ages.
There is much paraphernalia of terror and villainy in it, but it was important for the
development of the Pre-Romantic movement.
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) an English author who made lasting contributions
to English Literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor
and lexicographer.
Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823) her fiction is characterized by seemingly
supernatural events being explained through reason. Throughout her work
traditional morals are asserted, women’s rights are advocated and reason
prevails.

6. 6
Characteristics of This Era
1. The exaltation of personal feelings and sensitivities.
๏The Neoclassical writers were concerned with the rational, social, and
educational poetry whereas the Pre-Romantics fought against that
tendency and tried to express their feelings through poetry.
2. The vision of nature:
๏ the Pre-Romantic poets wrote about the poetic feelings that nature
made them feel.
๏ In nature human beings van feel beauty, tenderness, and melancholy.
๏The Pre-Romantics despise the artificial life of the cities and they would
rather retire to the country side.
๏Nature is a reflection of the feelings of the poet.
3. Moral and intellectual freedom:
๏The Neoclassical writers strictly followed the tradition. Their main
characters do not express their dissatisfaction with society.
4. Melancholy:
๏Nature and its reflection produce melancholy feelings based on the ideas
that life moves toward death, that happiness is unattainable, and love is
unstable.
๏Melancholy reminds human beings that their life has an end.
5. The predilection for darkness and sepulchres:
๏It is a way to acquire more intimate feelings that shows the state of the
soul.
๏This sort of literature goes back to the Middle Ages, and it is going to
portray sepulchres, abbeys, monks, and strange events.
6. To write with these new concepts in mind, writers needed to explore other ways
of writing. Literature had to abandon its social projection and acquire a more
intimate tone.

7. 7
Thomas Gray
His Early Life
Born in Cornhill on 26 December 1716, Gray was the fifth of twelve children of
Philip and Dorothy Antrobus Gray and the only one to survive infancy. He Also
suffered from convulsions as a child. His mother in partnership with her sister Mary
she kept a millinery,women’s hats, shop in Cornhill. This and the house connected
with it were the property of Philip Gray, a money-scrivener, who married Dorothy in
1706 and lived with her in the house, the sisters renting the shop from him and
supporting themselves by its profits. Philip Gray had impaired the fortune which he
inherited from his father, a wealthy London merchant; yet he was sufficiently well-
to-do, and at the close of his life was building a house upon some property of his
own at Wanstead. But he was selfish and brutal and given to fits of insanity, abused
his wife. She left him at one point; but Philip Gray threatened to pursue her and
wreak vengeance on her, and she returned to him.
From 1725 to 1734 Thomas Gray attended Eton, where he met Richard West
and Horace Walpole, son of the powerful Whig minister, Sir Robert Walpole. The
four prided themselves on their sense of style, their sense of humour, and their
appreciation of beauty. This little coterie was dubbed "the Quadruple Alliance."
Gray was a delicate and scholarly boy who spent his time reading and avoiding
athletics. He recalled his schooldays as a time of great happiness, as is evident in
his Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College.
In 1734 Gray entered Peterhouse College, Cambridge University. Four years
later he left Cambridge without a degree because he found the curriculum dull.
He wrote letters to his friends listing all the things he disliked: the masters ("mad with
Pride") and the Fellows ("sleepy, drunken, dull, illiterate Things.") Supposedly he was
intended for the law, but in fact he spent his time as an undergraduate reading
classical and modern literature and playing on the harpsichord for relaxation. Then
he and Horace Walpole sailed from Dover on 29 March 1739 for a Continental
tour. The two quarreled at Reggio, Italy, in May 1741; Gray continued the tour
alone, returning to London in September. In November 1741 Gray's father died;
Gray's extant letters contain no mention of this event.

8. 8
His Contribution
Thomas Gray is one of the best known of all English poets, and his poems are
counted among the finest in the English language. But his literary output was small
because he wrote slowly, striving for perfection.
Gray's poetry is concerned with the rejection of sexual desire. The figure of the
poet in his poems is often a lonely, alienated, and marginal one, and various
muses or surrogate-mother figures are invoked for aid or guidance. The typical
"plot" of the four longer poems of 1742 has to do with engaging some figure of
desire to repudiate it, as in the "Ode on the Spring," or, as in the Eton College ode,
to lament lost innocence. Sometimes, as in the "Hymn to Adversity," a harsh and
repressive figure is conjured to rebuke excessive desire and to aid in the formation
of a modest and humane fellowship, the transposed and social form of sexual
desire. In the "Hymn to Ignorance" a goddess clearly modeled on Pope's Dulness in
The Dunciad (1728) is used to rebuke the "I" who longs for the maternal and
demonic presence. In different but related ways these four poems enact the
poet's quest for his tutelary spirit, for the muse who will preside over the making of
poetic and personal identity.
Ode on the Spring previews Gray's appreciation in the "Elegy" of rustic simplicity
against the claims of the proud and the great and reveal the inception of a poetic
persona that will be adapted and modified during the coming years. The poem
therefore offers a model for reading Gray's early poetry, in which the various
rejections of desire are the major adventure of the speaker of the poems.
Gray’s surviving letters also show his sharp observation and playful sense of
humour. He is also well known for his phrase, "where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be
wise." This is from his Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College This phrase is one of
the most misunderstood phrases in English literature. Gray is not promoting
ignorance, but reflecting nostalgically on a time when he was allowed to be
ignorant, his youth.
Gray spent most of his life as a scholar in Cambridge, and only later in his life did
he begin travelling again. Although he was one of the least productive poets (his
collected works published during his lifetime amount to fewer than 1,000 lines), he
is regarded as the foremost English-language poet of the mid-18th century. In
1757, he was offered the post of Poet Laureate, which he refused. In July 1768
Gray was made professor of modern history at Cambridge, though he never
lectured or published on the subject. The most significant personal event of his last
years was a brief, intense friendship with a young Swiss student, Karl Victor von
Bonstetten. The friendship was apparently complicated by physical desire on
Gray's part, though no sexual relation is believed to have occurred between them.
In July 1771 Gray became ill while dining at Pembroke College; a week later, on 30
July, he died. In his Souvenirs (1832) Bonstetten reflected on the poet “I think the
key to the mystery is that Gray never loved; the result was a poverty of heart
contrasting with his ardent and profound imagination, which, instead of
comprising the happiness of his life, was only its torment.”

9. 9
Gray’s Masterpiece: Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
It is believed that Gray began writing his masterpiece, the Elegy Written in a
Country Churchyard, in the graveyard of the church in Stoke Poges,
Buckinghamshire, in 1742, completing it, after several years lying unfinished, in
1750. It was sent to his friend Horace Walpole, who popularized the poem among
London literary circles. Gray was eventually forced to publish the work on 15
February 1751, to pre-empt a magazine publisher from printing an unlicensed copy
of the poem. The poem was a literary sensation when published and has made a
lasting contribution to English literature. It was partly inspired by Gray’s thoughts
following the death of the poet Richard West in 1742. Originally titled Stanza's
Wrote in a Country Church-Yard. Its reflective, calm and stoic tone was greatly
admired, and it was pirated, imitated, quoted and translated into Latin and Greek.
It is still one of the most popular and most frequently quoted poems in the English
language. In 1759 during the Seven Years War, before the Battle of the Plains of
Abraham, British General James Wolfe is said to have recited it to his officers,
adding: "Gentlemen, I would rather have written that poem than take Quebec
tomorrow." The Elegy was recognized immediately for its beauty and skill. It
contains many phrases which have entered the common English lexicon, either on
their own or as quoted in other works.
The poem is an elegy2 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. With its discussion of, and focus on, the obscure and the known, the poem
has possible political ramifications, but it does not make any definite claims on
politics to be more universal in its approach to life and death.
Later critics tended to praise its language and universal aspects, but some felt
the ending was unconvincing, failing to resolve the questions the poem raised; or
that the poem did not do enough to present a political statement that would
serve to help the obscure rustic poor who forms its central image.
2A type poetry presenting melancholic reflection on morality, framed in narratives involving visits to
graveyards and other reminders of death.

10. 10
The Background of the Poem
Gray's life was surrounded by loss and death, and many people that he knew
died painfully and alone. In 1749, several events occurred that caused Gray stress.
On 7 November, Mary Antrobus, Gray's aunt, died; her death devastated his
family. The loss was compounded a few days later by news that his friend since
childhood Horace Walpole was almost killed by two highwaymen. Although
Walpole survived and later joked about the event, the incident disrupted Gray's
ability to pursue his scholarship. The events dampened the mood that Christmas,
and Antrobus's death was ever fresh in the minds of the Gray family. As a side
effect, the events caused Gray to spend much of his time contemplating his own
mortality. As he began to contemplate various aspects of mortality, he combined
his desire to determine a view of order and progress present in the Classical world
with aspects of his own life. With spring nearing, Gray questioned if his own life
would enter into a sort of rebirth cycle or, should he die, if there would be anyone
to remember him. Gray's meditations during spring 1750 turned to how individuals'
reputations would survive. Eventually, Gray remembered some lines of poetry that
he composed in 1742 following the death of West, a poet he knew. Using that
previous material, he began to compose a poem that would serve as an answer
to the various questions he was pondering.
On 3 June 1750, Gray moved to Stoke Poges, and on 12 June he completed
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. Immediately, he included the poem in a
letter he sent to Walpole, that said:
As I live in a place where even the ordinary tattle of the town arrives not till it is stale,
and which produces no events of its own, you will not desire any excuse from me for
writing so seldom, especially as of all people living I know you are the least a friend to
letters spun out of one's own brains, with all the toil and constraint that accompanies
sentimental productions. I have been here at Stoke a few days (where I shall continue
good part of the summer); and having put an end to a thing, whose beginnings you
have seen long ago. I immediately send it you. You will, I hope, look upon it in light of a
thing with an end to it; a merit that most of my writing have wanted, and are like to
want, but which this epistle I am determined shall not want.
The letter reveals that Gray felt that the poem was unimportant, and that he
did not expect it to become as popular or influential as it did. Gray dismisses its
positives as merely being that he was able to complete the poem, which was
probably influenced by his experience of the churchyard at Stoke Poges, where
he attended the Sunday service and was able to visit the grave of Antrobus.

11. 11
Graveyard Poetry
A type poetry presenting melancholic reflection on morality, framed in
narratives involving visits to graveyards and other reminders of death. One of the
most celebrated examples of this type of verse is Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a
Country Churchyard. With its personal and introspective concerns, such verse has
been seen as significant as part of a transitional phase between publicly focused
neoclassical verse and Romantic lyricism, but it is of interest not only as a stepping-
stone in literary history. Involving a focus upon loss, and with extensive analyses of
feelings, such verse played a part in the wider culture of sensibility.
Meter and Rhyme Scheme
Gray wrote the poem in four-line stanzas (quatrains). Each line is in iambic
pentameter, meaning the following:
1..Each line has five pairs of syllables for a total of ten syllables.
2..In each pair, the first syllable is unstressed (or unaccented), and the second is
stressed (or accented), as in the two lines that open the poem:
.......The CUR few TOLLS the KNELL of PART ing DAY
.......The LOW ing HERD wind SLOW ly O'ER the LEA
.......In each stanza, the first line rhymes with the third and the second line rhymes
with the fourth (abab), as follows:
a.....The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
b.....The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
a.....The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
b.....And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
Stanza Form: Heroic Quatrain
.......A stanza with the above-mentioned characteristics—four lines, iambic
pentameter, and an abab rhyme scheme—is often referred to as a heroic
quatrain. (Quatrain is derived from the Latin word quattuor, meaning four.) William
Shakespeare and John Dryden had earlier used this stanza form. After Gray's
poem became famous, writers and critics also began referring to the heroic
quatrain as an elegiac stanza.
The Tone
The tone of the poem is sad and melancholic because it is the description of
the death of common people. The speaker uses sad diction and symbols such as
''owl, death, grave, sleep'' also, the owl symbolizes death.
The setting
The time is the mid 1700s, about a decade before the Industrial Revolution
began in England. The place is the cemetery of a church. Evidence indicates that
the church is St. Giles, in the small town of Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, in
southern England. Gray himself is buried in that cemetery. William Penn, the
founder of Pennsylvania, once maintained a manor house at Stoge Poges.

12. 12
Themes
Death: the Great Equalizer
.......Even the proud and the mighty must one day lie beneath the earth, like the
humble men and women now buried in the churchyard, as line 36 notes: The paths
of glory lead but to the grave. Lines 41-44 further point out that no grandiose
memorials and no flattering words about the deceased can bring him or her back
from death.
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?
Missed Opportunities
.......Because of poverty or other handicaps, many talented people never receive
the opportunities they deserve. The following lines elucidate this theme through
metaphors:
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.
Here, the gem at the bottom of the ocean may represent an undiscovered
musician, poet, scientist or philosopher. The flower may likewise stand for a person
of great and noble qualities that are "wasted on the desert air." Of course, on
another level, the gem and the flower can stand for anything in life that goes
unappreciated.
Virtue
.......In their rural setting, far from the temptations of the cities and the courts of
kings, the villagers led virtuous lives, as lines 73-76 point out:
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.

13. 13
Inversion
.......For poetic effect, Gray frequently uses inversion (reversal of the normal word
order). Following are examples:
Line 6: And all the air a solemn stillness holds (all the air holds a solemn stillness)
Line 14: Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap (Where the turf heaves)
Line 24: Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share. (Or climb his knees to share the
envied kiss)
Line 79: With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck'd (deck'd with
uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture)
Syncope
Omitting letters or sounds within a word.
Gray also frequently uses a commonplace poetic device known as syncope, the
omission of letters or sounds within a word.
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea (line 2)
Now fades the glimm'ring landscape on the sight (line 5)
Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tow'r (line 9)
The swallow twitt'ring from the straw-built shed (line 18)

14. 14
Figures of Speech
.......Following are examples of figures of speech in the poem.
Alliteration
Repetition of a Consonant Sound
The plowman homeward plods his weary way (line 3) .
The cock's shrill clarion, or the echoing horn (line 19)
Nor cast one longing, ling'ring look behind? (line 88) .
Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn (line 107) .
Or craz'd with care, or cross'd in hopeless love. (line 108)
Anaphora
Repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of word groups occurring
one after the other
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave (line 34)
Their name, their years, spelt by th' unletter'd muse (line 81)
Ev'n from the tomb the voice of Nature cries,
Ev'n in our ashes live their wonted fires. (lines 91-92)
Metaphor
Comparison between unlike things without using like, as, or than
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. (lines 53-56)
Comparison of the dead village people to gems and flowers
Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride
With incense kindled at the Muse's flame. (lines 71-72)
Comparison of flattering words to incense
Metonymy
Use of a word or phrase to suggest a related word or phrase
To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land
Land stands for people.
Personification
A form of metaphor that compares a thing to a person
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. (lines 29-32)
Ambition and Grandeur take on human characteristics.
But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page
Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll (line 49-50)
Notice that Knowledge becomes a person, a female.
Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth,
And Melancholy mark'd him for her own. (lines 119-120)
Science and Melancholy become persons.

15. 15
Assessment of the Poem
.......Scholars regard "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" as one of the greatest
poems in the English language. It weaves structure, rhyme scheme, imagery and
message into a brilliant tapestry that confers on Gray everlasting fame. The quality
of its poetry and insights reach Shakespearean and Miltonian heights.
Biographical Information
.......Thomas Gray was born in London on December 26, 1716. He was the only one
of twelve children who survived into adulthood. His father, Philip, a scrivener (a
person who copies text) was a cruel, violent man, but his mother, Dorothy,
believed in her son and operated a millinery business to educate him at Eton
school in his childhood and Peterhouse College, Cambridge, as a young man.
.......He left the college in 1738 without a degree to tour Europe with his friend,
Horace Walpole, the son of the first prime minister of England, Robert Walpole
(1676-1745). However, Gray did earn a degree in law although he never practiced
in that profession. After achieving recognition as a poet, he refused to give public
lectures because he was extremely shy. Nevertheless, he gained such widespread
acclaim and respect that England offered him the post of poet laureate, which
would make him official poet of the realm. However, he rejected the honor. Gray
was that rare kind of person who cared little for fame and adulation

16. 16
The Poem
1.3The curfew 4 tolls the knell5 of parting day6,
2.The lowing7 herd wind slowly o'er 8 the lea9 ,
3.The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
4.And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
the
poet
begins
the
poem
with
medita0ons
of
the
darkness
and
the
graves.
The
poet
starts
by
describing
the
disappearance
of
the
day
light
and
the
coming
of
the
darkness
in
the
graveyard
–
so
the
poet
starts
with
the
darkness
to
indicates
and
shows
his
great
sadness.
Then
he
remembers
the
daylight
and
the
happiness
which
disappears
by
the
death
of
the
pastoral
people
gray
praises
the
li;
of
those
people
who
are
simple
and
innocent
.
then
he
shi;s
to
visual
images
the
image
of
the
farmers
coming
back
home
–
now
there
were
no
farmers
,no
animals
and
the
image
becomes
darker
and
darker
,
so
the
image
becomes
gloomy
and
melancholy
which
is
one
of
the
characteris0cs
of
the
elegy.
In
addi0on,
it
deals
with
personal
experience,
emo0on
and
feeling
s
which
is
a
characteris0c
of
the
pre
–
roman0c
school
the
elegy
of
a
country
church
yard
starts
with
a
personifica0on
gray
personifies
the
day
he
compares
it
to
someone
par0ng,
leaving
and
dying
the
church
bells
are
ringing
to
announce
his
death.
There
is
an
auditory
image
in
the
sound
of
the
church
bells.
They
are
knelling
and
ringing.
We
also
have
kine0c
image
which
is
herd
of
sheep
winding
and
moving
slowly.
We
also
have
melancholic
solitary
personal
tone
when
he
says
''to
me''
this
is
one
of
the
characteris0c
of
the
pre
roman0c
school.
So
the
first
stanza,
is
considered
an
image
of
the
slow
movement
of
the
life.
5.Now fades the glimm'ring landscape on the sight,
3 The poem begins in a churchyard with a narrator who is describing his surroundings in vivid
detail. The narrator emphasises both aural and visual sensations as he examines the area in
relation to himself. 1-12
4ringing bell in the evening that reminded people in English towns of Gray’s time to put out fires
and go to bed
5 mournful sound
6 day's end; dying day; twilight; dusk.
7 mooing.
8 contraction for over.
9 meadow

17. 17
6.And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
7.Save10 where the beetle11 wheels 12 his droning13 flight,
8.And drowsy tinklings 14 lull the distant folds15;
poet
con0nues
describing
the
light
of
the
landscape
a;er
the
departure
of
the
farmers
and
the
animals
.
so
we
have
solitude
landscape
and
lonely
filed
There
isn't
any
sound
except
the
beetle
and
their
wheeling.
The
sound
of
the
beetle
is
something
nega0ve
to
show
the
theme
of
death.
The
poet
expresses
his
feelings
of
sadness.
He
indicates
that
he
loves
loneliness
and
being
in
a
lonely
places.
The
poet
uses
visual
image
depending
on
the
sight
of
the
lights
which
are
about
to
disappear
and
become
dimmer
and
weaker
.another
image
related
to
death
to
death
is
the
sound
of
flying
beetle
at
night.
All
those
images
are
related
to
death
which
is
one
of
the
features
of
the
pre
roman0c
period.
There
is
a
metaphor
in
this
stanza
when
the
poet
compares
the
beetles
thinking
to
the
sound
of
the
mother
who
is
trying
to
tell
her
baby
to
sleep.
This
metaphor
suggests
s0llness.
The
poet
uses
the
leHer
''L''
in
words
such
as
''glimmering,
landscape,
solemn,
s0llness,
beetle,
wheels
and
many
others
to
indicates
the
lulling
mood.
10 except
11 winged insect that occurs in more than 350,000 varieties. One type is the firefly, or lightning bug.
12 verb meaning flies in circles.
13 humming; buzzing; monotonous sound.
14 onomatopoeia.
15Drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds: This clause apparently refers to the gentle sounds made
by a bell around the neck of a castrated male sheep that leads other sheep. A castrated male
sheep is called a wether. Such a sheep with a bell around its neck is called a bellwether. Folds is a
noun referring to flocks of sheep.

18. 18
9.Save16 that from yonder17 ivy-mantled18 tow'r
10.The moping19 owl does to the moon complain
11.Of such, as wand'ring near her secret bow'r 20,
12.Molest21 her ancient solitary reign22.
the
poet
presents
another
thing
that
is
in
the
scene.
He
no0ces
the
owl
which
is
a
symbol
of
death.
We
don’t
have
human
beings
other
than
the
poet.
We
have
an
owl
and
dead
people
in
the
graveyard.
The
owl
making
a
sound
complaining
to
the
moon
against
the
poet.
This
is
because
the
poet
is
wondering
in
the
churchyard
and
disturbing
it.
The
poet
uses
a
personifica0on
when
he
compares
the
moon
to
human
being
which
is
listening
to
complaint.
It
is
also
a
visual
image.
It
is
one
of
the
features
of
the
graveyard
school
which
is
found
in
the
pre
roman0c
movement.
13.Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade,
16 except
17 distant; remote.
18 cloaked, dressed, or adorned with ivy.
19 gloomy; grumbling.
20 bower, an enclosure surrounded by plant growth—in this case, ivy.
21 bother the owl while it keeps watch over the churchyard and countryside
22 Her ancient solitary rein: metaphor comparing the owl to a queen.

19. 19
14.Where heaves the turf 23 in many a mould'ring24 heap,
15.Each in his narrow cell25 for ever laid,
16.The rude26 forefathers of the hamlet27 sleep.
the
poet
men0ons
the
word
''grave''
for
the
first
0me.
He
starts
to
look
down
and
finds
the
graves
of
those
people
buried
there
forever.
So
he
starts
to
speak
about
the
simple
rus0c
people
who
are
buried
in
the
grave.
We
have
visual
images
have
in
describing
the
church
graves,
the
tombs
and
the
dead
farmers.
Then
the
poet
describes
the
grave
to
''narrow
cell''
which
means
the
tombs.
He
also
uses
the
word
''sleep''
it
is
a
significant
word
because
sleep
means
half
death.
The
poet
is
going
to
speak
about
death
.he
speaks
also
about
the
life
before
death
so
he
succeeds
in
using
the
word
sleep
to
show
the
idea
of
death.
23 Where heaves the turf: anastrophe, a figure of speech that inverts the normal word order (the
turf heaves).
24 mouldering (British), moldering (American), an adjective meaning decaying, crumbling.
25 metaphor comparing a grave to a prison cell.
26 robust; sturdy; hearty; stalwart.
27 village

20. 20
17.The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn28,
18.The swallow 29 twitt'ring from the straw-built shed,
19.The cock's shrill clarion30, or the echoing horn31,
20.No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.
gray
compares
THE
TALENTS
OF
THE
POOR
TO
(GEM)
hidden
in
the
ocean
or
flowers
in
the
desert
.
the
poet
starts
to
remember
things
used
to
happen
in
the
past
when
those
dead
people
were
alive.
He
adds
that
those
will
never
bring
people
to
life
again.
He
uses
the
word
''lowly
bed''
to
emphasizes
that
the
death
of
those
people
and
they
aren’t
going
to
awake
from
their
death.
The
poet
uses
onomatopic
words
such
as
''
twiHering
of
the
swallow''
because
the
swallow
twiHers
early
in
the
morning
when
the
bird
sing.
now
they
are
dead
and
they
cant
hear
the
singing
of
the
birds
anymore.
28Breezy call of incense-breathing Morn: wind carrying the pleasant smells of morning, including
dewy grass and flowers. Notice that Morn is a metaphor comparing it to a living creature. (It calls
and breathes.)
29 Insect-eating songbird that likes to perch.
30 cock-a-doodle-doo.
31The words may refer to the sound made by a fox huntsman who blows a copper horn to which
pack hounds respond.

21. 21
21.For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,
22.Or busy housewife ply her evening care:
23.No children run to lisp their sire's return,
24.Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share32 .
25.Oft did the harvest to their sickle33 yield,
26.Their furrow 34 oft the stubborn glebe35 has broke;
27.How jocund36 did they drive their team afield!
28.How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!
29.Let not Ambition37 mock their useful toil,
30.Their homely joys, and destiny obscure38;39
31.Nor Grandeur40 hear with a disdainful smile
32.The short and simple annals 41 of the poor.
32Climb his knees the envied kiss to share: anastrophe, a figure of speech that inverts the normal
word order (to share the envied kiss).
33 Harvesting tool with a handle and a crescent-shaped blade. Field hands swing it from right to left
to cut down plant growth.
34 channel or groove made by a plow for planting seeds.
35 earth.
36To maintain the meter, Gray uses an adjective when the syntax call for an adverb, jocundly.
Jocund (pronounced JAHK und) means cheerful.
37 Personification referring to the desire to succeed or to ambitious people seeking lofty goals.
38 the humble fate of the common people; their unheralded deeds.
39Lines 29-30: anastrophe, a figure of speech that inverts the normal word order (let not Ambition
obscure their destiny and homely joys).
40 personification referring to people with wealth, social standing, and power.
41 historical records; story.

22. 22
33.The boast of heraldry42, the pomp43 of pow'r,
34.And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er 44 gave,
35.Awaits alike th' inevitable hour.
36.The paths of glory lead but to the grave45.
37.Nor you, ye proud, impute46 to these the fault,
38.If Mem'ry 47 o'er their tomb no trophies raise,
39.Where thro'48 the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault
40.The pealing anthem49 swells the note of praise.
42Proud talk about the aristocratic or noble roots of one's family; snobbery. Heraldry was a science
that traced family lines of royal and noble personages and designed coats of arms for them.
43 ceremonies, rituals, and splendid surroundings of nobles and royals.
44 ever.
45General meaning of stanza: Every person—no matter how important, powerful, or wealthy—
ends up the same, dead.
46 Assign, ascribe.
47Memory, a personification referring to memorials, commemorations, and tributes—including
statues, headstones, and epitaphs—used to preserve the memory of important or privileged
people.
48Where thro' . . . the note of praise: Reference to the interior of a church housing the tombs of
important people. Fretted vault refers to a carved or ornamented arched roof or ceiling.
49 Pealing anthem may refer to lofty organ music.

23. 23
41.Can storied50 urn or animated bust 51
42.Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath52?
43.Can Honour's53 voice provoke the silent dust,
44.Or Flatt'ry soothe the dull cold ear of Death54?
45.Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
46.Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire55 ;
47.Hands, that the rod of empire56 might have sway'd,
48.Or wak'd to ecstasy the living lyre57 .
50Storied urn: Vase adorned with pictures telling a story. Urns have sometimes been used to hold
the ashes of a cremated body.
51 sculpture of the head, shoulders, and chest of a human.
52Storied urn . . . breath? Can the soul (fleeting breath) be called back to the body (mansion) by
the urn or bust back? Notice that urn and bust are personifications that call.
53Can Honour's . . . Death? Can honor (Honour's voice) attributed to the dead person cause that
person (silent dust) to come back to life? Can flattering words (Flatt'ry) about the dead person
make death more "bearable"?
54General meaning of stanza: Lines 41-45 continue the idea begun in Lines 37-40. In other words,
can any memorials—such as the trophies mentioned in Line 38, the urn and bust mentioned in
Line 41, and personifications (honor and flattery) mentioned in Lines 43 and 44—bring a person
back to life or make death less final or fearsome?
55 Pregnant with celestial fire: Full of great ideas, abilities, or goals (celestial fire).
56Rod of empire: scepter held by a king or an emperor during ceremonies. One of the humble
country folk in the cemetery might have become a king or an emperor if he had been given the
opportunity.
57Wak'd . . .lyre: Played beautiful music on a lyre, a stringed instrument. In other words, one of the
people in the cemetery could have become a great musician if given the opportunity, "waking up"
the notes of the lyre .

24. 24
49.But Knowledge58 to their eyes her ample page
50.Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll59 ;
51.Chill Penury repress'd their noble rage,
52.And froze the genial current of the soul60.
53.Full many a gem of purest ray serene, 61
54.The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:
55.Full many a flow'r is born to blush unseen,
56.And waste its sweetness on the desert air62.
58 Knowledge . . . unroll: Knowledge did not reveal itself to them (their eyes) in books (ample page)
rich with treasures of information (spoils of time).
59Knowledge . . . unroll: Personification and anastrophe a figure of speech that inverts the normal
word order (knowledge did ne'er enroll)
60Chill . . . soul: Poverty (penury) repressed their enthusiasm (rage) and froze the flow (current) of
ideas (soul).
61 61
As the poem continues, the narrator begins to focus less on the countryside and more on his
immediate surroundings. His descriptions begin to move from sensations to his own thoughts
about the dead. As the poem changes, the narrator begins to emphasise what is not present in the
scene, he contrasts an obscure country life with a life that is remembered. This contemplation
provokes the narrator's thoughts on waste that comes in nature. 53-73
62 Full . . . air: These may be the most famous lines in the poem. Gray is comparing the humble
village people to undiscovered gems in caves at the bottom of the ocean and to undiscovered
flowers in the desert.

25. 25
57.Some village-Hampden 63, that with dauntless breast
58.The little tyrant of his fields withstood;
59.Some mute inglorious Milton64 here may rest,
60.Some Cromwell65 guiltless of his country's blood.
61.Th' applause of list'ning senates to command,
62.The threats of pain and ruin to despise,
63.To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land,
64.And read their hist'ry in a nation's eyes66,
65.Their lot forbade: nor circumscrib'd alone
66.Their growing virtues, but their crimes confin'd;
67.Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne,
68.And shut the gates of mercy on mankind67 ,
63 John Hampden (1594-1643) a Puritan member of Parliament, frequently criticized and opposed
the policies of King Charles I. In particular, he opposed a tax imposed by the king to outfit the
British navy. Because he believed that only Parliament could impose taxes, he refused to pay 20
shillings in ship money in 1635. Many joined him in his opposition. War broke out between those
who supported Parliament and those who supported the king. Hampden was killed in battle in
1643. Gray here is presenting Hampden as a courageous (dauntless) hero who stood against the
king (little tyrant)
64 John Milton (1608-1674), the great English poet and scholar.
65 Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), general and statesman; lord protector of England.
66The subject and verb of Lines 61-64 are in the first three words of Line 65, their lot forbade.
Thus, this stanza says the villagers' way of life (lot) prohibited or prevented them from receiving
applause from politicians for good deeds such as alleviating pain and suffering and providing
plenty (perhaps food) across the land. These deeds would have been recorded by the appreciating
nation.
67General meaning: Their lot in life not only prevented (circumbscrib'd) them from doing good
deeds (like those mentioned in Stanza 16) but also prevented (confin'd) bad deeds such as killing
enemies to gain the throne and refusing to show mercy to people.

26. 26
69.The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,
70.To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,
71.Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride
72.With incense kindled at the Muse's 68 flame69.
73.Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,
74.Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;
75.Along the cool sequester'd vale of life
76.They kept the noiseless 70 tenor of their way71.
77.Yet ev'n these bones from insult to protect,
78.Some frail memorial still erected nigh,
79.With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck'd,
80.Implores the passing tribute of a sigh72.
68 One of the nine Greek sister goddesses who inspired the arts.
69 General meaning: This stanza continues the idea begun in the previous stanza, saying that the
villagers' lot in life also prevented them from hiding truth and shame and from bragging or using
pretty or flattering words (incense kindled at the Muse's flame) to gain luxuries and feed their pride.
70 Noiseless tenor of their way: quiet way of life.
71General meaning: The villagers plodded on faithfully, never straying from their lot in life as
common people. (2) Madding: maddening; furious; frenzied.
72 General meaning: But even these people have gravestones (frail memorial), although they are
engraved with simple and uneducated words or decked with humble sculpture. These gravestones
elicit a sigh from people who see them.

27. 27
81.Their name, their years, spelt by th' unletter'd muse73 ,
82.The place of fame and elegy supply74:
83.And many a holy text75 around she76 strews,
84.That teach the rustic moralist77 to die.
85.For who to dumb Forgetfulness a prey,
86.This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd,
87.Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
88.Nor cast one longing, ling'ring look behind78?
89.On some fond breast the parting soul relies,
90.Some pious drops the closing eye requires;
91.Ev'n from the tomb the voice of Nature cries,
92.Ev'n in our ashes live their wonted fires 79.
73 Unletter'd muse: Uneducated writer or engraver.
74 Their . . . supply: Their name and age appear but there are no lofty tributes.
75 probably Bible quotations.
76 muse. See the second note for Stanza 18.
77 pious villager
78General meaning: These humble people, though they were doomed to be forgotten (to dumb
Forgetfulness a prey), did not die (did not leave the warm precincts of cheerful day) without looking
back with regret and perhaps a desire to linger a little longer .
79 General meaning: The dying person (parting soul) relies on a friend (fond breast) to supply the
engraved words (pious drops) on a tombstone. Even from the tomb the spirit of a person cries out
for remembrance.

28. 28
93.For thee, who mindful of th' unhonour'd Dead80
94.Dost in these lines their artless tale relate81;
95.If chance, by lonely contemplation led,
96.Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate82,
97.Haply83 some hoary-headed swain84 may say,
98."Oft have we seen him at the peep of dawn
99.Brushing with hasty steps the dews away
100.To meet the sun upon the upland lawn.
101."There at the foot of yonder nodding 85 beech86
102.That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high,
103.His listless length 87 at noontide would he stretch,
104.And pore upon88 the brook that babbles by.
80 80The narrator focuses on the inequities that come from death, obscuring individuals, while he
begins to resign himself to his own inevitable fate. As the poem ends, the narrator begins to deal
with death in a direct manner as he discusses how humans desire to be remembered. As the
narrator does so, the poem shifts and the first narrator is replaced by a second who describes the
death of the first. 93-100
81For thee . . . relate: Gray appears to be referring to himself. Mindful that the villagers deserve
some sort of memorial, he is telling their story (their artless tale) in this elegy (these lines).
82Lines 95-96: But what about Gray himself? What if someone asks about his fate? Gray provides
the answer in the next stanza.
83 Perhaps; by chance; by accident
84 Hoary-headed swain: Gray-haired country fellow; old man who lives in the region.
85 bending; bowing.
86 86
The poem concludes with a description of the poet's grave that the narrator is meditating over,
together with a description of the end of that poet's life. 101-116
87 Listless length: his tired body.
88 Pore
upon:
Look
at;
watch.

29. 29
105."Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn89,
106.Mutt'ring his wayward fancies 90 he would rove91,
107.Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn,
108.Or craz'd with care, or cross'd in hopeless love.
109."One morn I miss'd him on the custom'd hill,
110.Along the heath and near his fav'rite tree;
111.Another came92; nor yet93 beside the rill94 ,
112.Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he;
113."The next95 with dirges 96 due in sad array
114.Slow thro' the church-way path we saw him borne.
115.Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay97,
116.Grav'd on the stone beneath yon aged thorn."
89 Wood, now smiling as in scorn: personification comparing the forest to a person.
90Wayward fancies: unpredictable, unexpected, or unwanted thoughts; capricious or flighty
thoughts.
91 wander.
92 another morning came.
93 Nor yet: But he still was not.
94 small stream or brook
95 the next morning.
96 funeral songs.
97 short poem—in this case, the epitaph below

30. 30
THE EPITAPH98
117.Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth
118.A youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown.
119.Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth,
120.And Melancholy mark'd him for her own.
121.Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,
122.Heav'n did a recompense as largely send:
123.He gave to Mis'ry all he had, a tear,
124.He gain'd from Heav'n ('twas all he wish'd) a friend.
125.No farther seek his merits to disclose,
126.Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,
127.(There they alike in trembling hope repose)
128.The bosom of his Father and his God99.
98An epitaph is included after the conclusion of the poem. The epitaph reveals that the poet whose
grave is the focus of the poem was unknown and obscure. The poet was separated from the other
common people because he was unable to join with the common affairs of life, and circumstance
kept him from becoming something greater. 117-128
99General meaning: Here lies a man of humble birth who did not know fortune or fame but who did
become a scholar. Although he was depressed at times, he had a good life, was sensitive to the
needs of others, and followed God's laws. Don't try to find out more about his good points or bad
points, which are now with him in heaven. 117-128