Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray

Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” belongs to the genre

of elegy. An elegy is a poem written to mourn a person’s death. Gray wrote
this elegy in the year 1742. However, he published it only in the year 1751. He
wrote this poem after the death of his friend Richard West.
The poem is an elegy of the common man. It is Gray’s masterpiece. The poem
is philosophical and emotional at the same time. The beauty of the poem lies
in its simplicity. Nonetheless, the poet brings out the ultimate truth about life
and death in free-flowing poetic lines.
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray
Summary
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.
Besides mourning the loss of someone, the speaker in the elegy reminds the
reader that all people will die one day. Death is an unavoidable and natural
thing in everyone’s life. 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.
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.
Analysis of Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
Stanzas 1 – 4
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.
As it opens, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” begins with the
description of the evening in a rural place. The evening church bell tells the
passing of the day. Cattle bleed as they turn homewards. Tired farmers also
follow. Darkness begins to cover the world. The speaker, that is, the poet is
standing in a graveyard. All is quiet and. Only the beadle buzzes and the owl
hoots. Among a group of elm trees, there is the graveyard. It belongs to the
village. There are burials of the villagers’ ancestors in the graveyard.

Stanzas 5 – 8
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.

In these stanzas of “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” the poet goes on

to talk about the people buried in the graveyard. They are sleeping in beds that
are low to the ground. No sound can wake them up. The twittering of the
swallow, the morning call of the cock, even a horn cannot wake them. Their
wives and their children, nobody care for them anymore. They were hard-
working men when they were alive. Their plowing, their harvesting, and their
farming, all were efficient. The speaker asks not to look down upon their
simple life and hard work. Ambitious people think of village life as simple. But
the villagers had their joy and sorrow much like others.

Stanzas 9 – 12
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.

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. But, none of that can bring a person back to life.
So, there is no use of them. One should remember that no one knew that one
of the dead villagers may have achieved greatness in life. Therefore, there may
be a ruler or a poet buried in there.

Stanzas 13 – 16
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,

In these stanzas, 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.
Stanzas 17 – 20
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.
To put the content of these stanzas in a nutshell, 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.
But still, there were markings to note their memory. The tombstones were
simple. The language was ordinary. But, there is truth in their memory.

Stanzas 21 – 24
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,

The dead villagers rest in the graveyard without recognition. 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.

Stanzas 25 – 28
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;
If someone asks about the poet who rests in the graveyard, one of the villagers
may talk about him. A free-spirited man was the poet. He went to the
mountains in the morning, stood under the beach tree sometimes. Then, he
went to the brook. Besides, he was sometimes muttering his fancies. The
villager would say that he missed seeing the man one day. The poet was
missing. The villager did not see him in his usual places. But, he saw the
funeral procession and how the man was buried in the graveyard

Stanzas 29 – 32
“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.

In this part of the poem, he says that his epitaph would read thus: Here lies the
young man who was not popular. His life was full of sorrow. Knowledge was
his only wealth. He gave his life to misery and all he longed was for a friend to
support. One need not look away to know about him. All that he did lies with
him, close to god in the lap of earth.
Themes
The poem, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, speaks of ordinary
people. It is an elegy for poor villagers. They are not famous but they are
honest. So, the poet has written this poem in honoring them. The poem talks
about death as an equalizer. Rich or poor should end in death. Moreover, no
man can escape death. In death, all are equal. Besides, nothing including any
amount of rich or glory can bring the dead to life. Even poor people deserve
respect for their death. Given opportunities, they would have become great
men in their times.
Setting
As far as the setting and mood go, the time is evening and every living being
on earth is retiring for the night. As the poem opens, the speaker is seen at the
churchyard; he hears the usual evening sounds. The church bell is ringing.
The shepherds and their cattle are returning home after the day’s work. The
location is rural. The atmosphere is subdued and melancholic. Darkness and
silence fill the place except for the hooting of the owl, the buzz of the beetle,
and the ringing of the bells. Regardless of all this gloom, the speaker stands in
the middle of tombstones in the graveyard. And while there, he imagines the
lives of the dead people who silently sleep there.

Form and Style

The poem “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” consists of 33 stanzas.
Each stanza has four lines. As an elegy, this poem mourns the death of
ordinary men. In this poem, Gray talks about the death and the lives of the
middle-class people, the poem follows all the conventions of the elegiac
tradition. Scholars look at this poem as a representative piece of literature for
the genre of elegy.
To begin with, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” has heroic quatrains
as stanzas. Four lines with iambic pentameter constitute each stanza. A
pentameter consists of ten syllables. Also, the first and the third lines rhyme at
the ending; the second and the fourth lines rhyme at the ending of each
stanza. Secondly, the rhyming scheme is abab, cdcd, efef, … Thirdly and most
importantly, the poem follows the conventions of an elegy. There is a pastoral
setting; however, there are no pastoral characters. The poem ends in the
poet’s own epitaph. In addition to its great content, the poem has beautifully
executed figures of speech in the stanza that talks about ‘hidden gems’ and
‘desert flowers’.