Thomas Gray’s popular poem “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” which was first published in 1751, was written at a time of great restructuring within the literary world. Now fades the glimm'ring landscape on the sight, Your email address will not be published. It deals with them in no lofty philosophical manner, but in a simple, humble, homely way, always with the trust and broadest humanity. To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame, Note the word ‘noble’: these would-be Miltons or Cromwells might have endured ‘Penury’ or poverty, but their rage or righteousness was truly ‘noble’, for all that. Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. Or Flatt’ry soothe the dull cold ear of Death? The tone of the poem "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray" is sad and somber. Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate. Pathetic composition as it is, it describes to us our own grief and our own sufferings. 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 tha… It doesn’t mourn West or any one other individual, but is instead more of an ode, which sees Gray meditating on death and the lives of simple rustic folk. The Thomas Gray Archive is a peer-reviewed digital archive and research project devoted to eighteenth-century poet, letter-writer, and scholar Thomas Gray (1716-1771), author of the acclaimed "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" (1751). Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” belongs to the genre of elegy. Rich with the spoils of time did ne’er unroll; Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is a Restoration Period poem by Thomas Gray. Analysis of Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard By Nasrullah Mambrol on July 7, 2020 • ( 0) Thomas Gray may have begun writing Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard as early as 1746. These poor villagers did the humble work of cultivation. Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day, How bow’d the woods beneath their sturdy stroke! Perhaps in this neglected spot is laidSome heart once pregnant with celestial fire;Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway’d,Or wak’d to ecstasy the living lyre. (Confusingly, although Gray’s ‘Elegy’ isn’t an elegy in the strictest sense but more of an ode, his other most famous poem, ‘Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes’, is more of an elegy than an ode.). Where thro’ the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault I still can quote large chunks of it. He wrote elegant lyric and dramatic poems, Latin translations, odes and … Elegy written in a Country Churchyard By Thomas Gray : Critical Appreciation. The paths of glory lead but to the grave. Required fields are marked *, The Railroad and the Churchyard by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse by Aesop. “There at the foot of yonder nodding beech A herd of cattle from pasture startedreturning home. But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page Or busy housewife ply her evening care: 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. The sublimity of the Alps and the religous horror of high mountains are frank expressions of his visions,-things as others would see them. Look at the Moon by Eliza Lee Cabot Follen, Innocent Child And Snow-White Flower by William Cullen Bryant, Aristotle’s Views on Happiness, Virtue, and the Ideal Man, My Struggle for an Education by Booker T. Washington, Difference between Tragedy and Epic according to Aristotle, 50+ Proverbs in English with Meanings and Example Sentences, 60+ Examples of Collective Nouns in Sentences, What is a Noun? Gray is the first poet who depart from this beaten track of town life and concentrates his attention on the Middle Ages and the Norse and Scandinavian mythology. Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride Interesting Literature. Mauldin and commented: ah… to read this favorite again (with a different eye) is such a joy. (In the same year that Gray’s friend died, he coined the nonce-word ‘leucocholy’, for ‘a white Melancholy’ which ‘though it seldom laughs or dances, nor ever amounts to what one calls Joy or Pleasure, yet is a good easy sort of a state.’ (‘Melancholy’ is from the Greek for ‘black bile’. A youth to Fortune and to Fame unknown. Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway’d, Image (top): Thomas Gray portrait by Benjamin Wilson (1721-1788), via Wikimedia Commons. This country churchyard may contain the grave of one who could become a popular hero like Hampden or an immortal poet like Milton or a military genius like Cromwell,but their humble lot denied them a chance of becoming great orators or great martyrs or great benefactors of their country. Gray was a versatile poet. "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" presents a good example of this transition. These gravestones of the poor show that their desire to be remembered after death is a desire common to all men. Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; Read by Alexander Scourby. 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! As we remarked at the beginning, ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ has bequeathed a number of famous titles and phrases to the world. That teach the rustic moralist to die. However, he published it only in the year 1751. The ‘country churchyard’ referred to in the poem’s title belonged to St Giles’ parish church at Stoke Poges in Buckinghamshire, although it’s likely that Gray had written much of the poem before he moved to Stoke Poges. If Mem’ry o’er their tomb no trophies raise, The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, Slow thro’ the church-way path we saw him borne. These gravestones of the poor show that their desire to be remembered after death is a desire common to all men. Interesting Literature is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.co.uk. The title of the eighth edition, 1753, is ''Elegy, originally written in a Country Churchyard.'' I had to memorize it in graduate school. Nor cast one longing, ling’ring look behind? They are objective. And shut the gates of mercy on mankind. The bosom of his Father and his God. Along the heath and near his fav’rite tree; Where heaves the turf in many a mould’ring heap, Implores the passing tribute of a sigh. Yet cases of potential greatness are common enough, for beautiful pearls lie at the bottom unseen in the wilderness. Dost in these lines their artless tale relate; The poem begins by describing the approach of evening with its darkness and its silence, which is unbroken except for some such sounds, as those of the droning of the beetle, the tinkling of sheep’s bells and the hooting of the owl. They kept the noiseless tenor of their way. The little tyrant of his fields withstood; “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. The poem is an elegy of the common man. With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck’d, Gray is considered to be the most original of all the transitional poets in the selection of his themes. 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. It’s pleasing that the Oxford English Dictionary’s earliest citation for the word ‘lyricism’ is from Thomas Gray, writing in 1760.). Their lot forbade: nor circumscrib’d alone The mystery of life does not become clearer,or less solemn and awful, for any amount of contemplation. There was a time when every schoolchild could quote lines from Thomas Gray’s poem ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’, since it was a popular poem to be taught, learnt by rote, and analysed in schools in Britain. (Similarly, ‘lea’ is echoed in ‘leaves’. The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea, Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breastThe little tyrant of his fields withstood;Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,Some Cromwell guiltless of his country’s blood. Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest, Pingback: 10 of the Best Poems about Churches | Interesting Literature. Or craz’d with care, or cross’d in hopeless love. Reblogged this on D.B. And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds; Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tow’r Instead of being fresh and new, his visions of Nature are discreet and pretty. Neoclassical poets believed poetry should comply with certain structural laws. But, then, their humble lot, while preventing the development of their virtues, limited the nature and extent of their vices as well, so that they were saved from becoming bloody usurpers or merciless tyrants. It is in his poetry that we have, for the first time, a departure from the treatment of urban life. Can storied urn or animated bustBack 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? 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’rThe moping owl does to the moon complainOf such, as wand’ring near her secret bow’r,Molest her ancient solitary reign. He gain’d from Heav’n (’twas all he wish’d) a friend. How jocund did they drive their team afield! William Empson, in an influential reading in his 1935 book Some Versions of Pastoral, thought not. Their growing virtues, but their crimes confin’d; 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. Gray wrote this elegy in the year 1742. Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, The Ancient Solitary Reign by Martin Hocke and yes it is about owls. The last three stanzas of the poem have been written in italic type and given the title "The Epitaph". It is with such questions that the Elegy deals. ), Technically, though, in terms of its form Gray’s ‘Elegy’ is not an elegy. Themes. For Empson, the poem – whether intentionally or not on Gray’s part – appears to be conservative in its message, arguing that the status quo is the natural way of things (no matter how much the quo, to borrow from Laurence Peter, may have lost its status). But in recent decades its popularity has declined. It possesses the charm of incomparable felicity of a melody that is not too subtle to delight every hearer, of a moral persuasiveness that appeals to every generation and of a metrical skill that in each line proclaims the master. “There at the foot of yonder nodding beechThat wreathes its old fantastic roots so high,His listless length at noontide would he stretch,And pore upon the brook that babbles by. I love this poem. “ Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” by Thomas Gray is a 1751 poem about the buried inhabitants of a country churchyard and a meditation on the inevitability of death for all. Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” was first published in 1751. There are some feelings and thoughts that cannot grow old. Founded in 2000, the Archive's mission is to facilitate collaboration and to support the study, research, and teaching of Gray's life and works. Some frail memorial still erected nigh, Can storied urn or animated bust Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard Thomas Gray The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea, The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me. Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere, With the exception of certain works of Byron and Shakespeare, no English poem has been so widely admired and imitated abroad. Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife,Their sober wishes never learn’d to stray;Along the cool sequester’d vale of lifeThey kept the noiseless tenor of their way. The poem presents the argument … Gray was alive to the external manifestations of Nature and observed them curiously, as is clear from his reflections in his poems. The swallow twitt’ring from the straw-built shed, In dealing with them, he faces problems, – problems of the brevity of life, of the certainty of pain, of death and of the helplessness of man.And in these problems, he keeps on brooding and his meditations take a deeper and more universal meaning. Again, in the opening lines of the “Elegy”, he presents the close of the day remarkably and beautifully. Ev’n in our ashes live their wonted fires. The poet’s thoughts turn to the poor; he forgets the find tombs inside the church and thinks only of the mouldering heaps” in the churchyard outside. “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 arraySlow 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.”. Enter your email address to subscribe to this site and receive notifications of new posts by email. Heav’n did a recompense as largely send: Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share. Gray completed ‘Elegy in a Country Churchyard’ in 1750 and sent the poem to his friend Horace Walpole (the inventor of the Gothic novel and coiner of the word ‘serendipity’), who circulated it among his literary friends before Gray published the poem in 1751. An analysis of the most important parts of the poem Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray, written in an easy-to-understand format. Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn, In the current of the thoughts of the Elegy, there is nothing that is rare or exceptional or out of the common way. Elegy Written in … And froze the genial current of the soul. Speaking of these peasants, the poet says, that some of these poor peasants could have been great rulers or statesmen, famous musicians or poets, if they had not been ignorant and poor. Another book you may not have heard of whose title is taken from the poem is The cock’s shrill clarion, or the echoing horn, Criticism. It is indeed,a cry of human sympathy. First, here’s a reminder of the text of ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’, before we move on to explain 1) why it isn’t an elegy, 2) why Gray didn’t want it published, and 3) how an obscure poet who died young helped to sow the seeds of this great poem. But he did write that poem and it did seal his reputation. Post was not sent - check your email addresses! Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree’s shade, After Gray’s death too some people will talk of him, some may be curious even to visit his grave and to read the epitaph on his tomb. Yes, yes, and yes. No children run to lisp their sire’s return, Critical Overview. The short and simple annals of the poor. Or draw his frailties from their dread abode, Thank you for sharing! He discarded four stanzas of an early version, which were probably read by his friend Horace Walpole, and planned to title the work simply “Stanzas” until his friend William Mason suggested … What’s more, as Empson also highlights, ‘a gem does not mind being in a cave and a flower prefers not to be picked; we feel that man is like the flower, as short-lived, natural, and valuable, and this tricks us into feeling that he is better off without opportunities’. The Elegy, therefore, is the outcome of the lonely meditations and musings of his obscure and secluded life. Sources. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. Look at the way ‘lowing’ is heard again in ‘slowly’, turning into ‘plowman’ but with the earlier o-sound returning in ‘homeward’, just as the plowman himself returns home. they perform their duty and function without anyone appreciating them, then that is fine: they are, after all, ‘born’ to do so. It always finds some disposition of our mind favourable to receive it, some passion which cannot resist its power and some feelings which participate in its sorrow. Gray’s ‘Elegy’ certainly offers no proposed replacement for the Way Things Are. Another common feature of neocla… The moping owl does to the moon complain Mutt’ring his wayward fancies he would rove, If we were all famous then there would be no famous or we would have to invent a new category of super-famous. By Thomas Gray. Then it proceeds to speak of the poor people – the ancestors of the rustic population of the neighbourhood who lay deep buried under the elm and the yew in the country churchyard. The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,Or heap the shrine of Luxury and PrideWith incense kindled at the Muse’s flame. An elegy is a poem written to mourn a person’s death. During the summer of 1750, Gray received so much positive support regarding the poem that he was in dismay, but did not mention it in his letters until an 18 December 1750 letter to Wharton. What is the secret of this extensive popularity? On some fond breast the parting soul relies, Written over several years in the 1740s, Thomas Gray’s elegy was eventually published in 1751 and enjoyed phenomenal popularity for the next two hundred years. Each stanza has just four lines of iambic pentameter in an ABAB rhyme scheme. Gray’s version of an elegy is slightly different—he writes about the inevitability and hollowness of death in general, instead of mourning one person. Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid 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. Consider the use of vowel sounds in that opening stanza: Was there ever a better description of the weariness of the evening after a hard day’s work, brilliantly capturing the time of day when simple labouring folk would retire home after toiling in the fields all day? But Knowledge to their eyes her ample pageRich with the spoils of time did ne’er unroll;Chill Penury repress’d their noble rage,And froze the genial current of the soul. His listless length at noontide would he stretch, (In the same year that Gray’s friend died, he coined the nonce-word ‘leucocholy’, for ‘a white Melancholy’ which ‘though it seldom laughs or dances, … But the germ of the poem actually goes back to 1742, when the young poet Richard West – a friend of both Gray and Walpole – died, while only in his mid-twenties. It exhibits the gentle melancholy that is characteristic of the English poets of the graveyard school of the 1740s and ’50s. The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn, Three copies of the ''Elegy'' in Gray's handwriting still exist. It is a poem, which has reached the hearts of mankind. Gray wrote a sonnet on the death of his friend, but it would be the ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ – an elegy not just for West but for all promising folk who toil away in obscurity and never had a chance to fulfil their potential – that would prove his lasting legacy. Thomas Gray’s “ Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard ” is one of “the best-known and best-loved poems in the English.” For each of its stanzas, I provide [in brackets] a brief explanation of its meaning which may not be clear to a modern ear. The plowman homeward plods his weary way, After Gray’s death too some people will talk of him, some may be curious even to visit his grave and to read the epitaph on his tomb. Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is a poem by Thomas Gray, first published in 1751. Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smileThe short and simple annals of the poor. Poem "Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard By Thomas Gray" In poetry, the tone of the poem denotes the voice that the poem is read in. in the British Museum, and this copy is therefore referred to as the ''Egerton MS.'' Elegiac poetry is mostly written in abab form. The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. But Gray’s use of language in this poem is masterly right from the start. 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. ELEGY WRITTEN IN COUNTRY CHURCHYARD 1. The ringing of a curfew bell isheard. Thomas Gray has been called a transitional poet because his writing had qualities of both neoclassicism and Romanticism. To scatter plenty o’er a smiling land, Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? Yet for all that, is Gray calling for political change in the ‘Elegy’? Introduction : Elegy written in a Country Churchyard By Thomas Gray is one of the Most Popular Poems in the English Language. (There they alike in trembling hope repose) 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. Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, Thomas Gray 1751. Chill Penury repress’d their noble rage, The pealing anthem swells the note of praise. Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault, For Further Study. Full many a flow’r is born to blush unseen, Ev’n from the tomb the voice of Nature cries, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray: Summary and Analysis Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is composed in quatrains, where the first line rhymes with the third, and the second with the fourth. He gave to Mis’ry all he had, a tear, Can Honour’s voice provoke the silent dust, Gray wrote a sonnet on the death of his friend, but it would be the ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ – an elegy not just for West but for all promising folk who toil away in obscurity and never had a chance to fulfil their potential – that would prove his lasting legacy. This poem written in the Iambic pentameter sways the Romantic spirit from the beginning to the end. 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