ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD by THOMAS GRAY
Thomas Gray was born in London in 1716.Gray occupies a distinctive place among the transitional poets of England during the 18 century.He stands like a giant between 'the ages of classicism and romanticism'. His thin volumes of poems forge a link between the two ages.
Gray's elegy differs from the elegies written by other poets.He does not mourn the death of a friend but the death of poor people in general.The elegy has 'anonymity'as its main appeal.It is not artificial but sincere in its expression.
Elegy written in a country churchyard is the most popular work of Gray.Dr.Johnson said the poem "abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind,and with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo".William Hazlitt considers the elegy as one of the most classical productions that has never been penned "by a refined and thoughtful mind, moralizing on human life".
In the opening stanzas Gray builds up the suitable atmosphere for the poem.The poet is all alone in the churchyard.It is late evening.Darkness engulfs the whole place.The poet gives us a visual picture of the churchyard as he sees it.There are elm and yew trees in the churchyard and the 'rude forefathers of the hamlet'lie buried under the shade of the trees.The description of the late evening and the loneliness of the poet prepare us for the melancholy reflections that follow.
The poet describes the joys of the poor villagers in visual images,the domestic scene with the busy housewife and clustering children and the farm scene with the sickle and the furrow.The villagers have put over the graves simple tombstones to honour the dead in their own way.The "frail monuments"of the poor can in no way compare with the costly monuments of the rich.The costly monuments are of no use over the dead.Once the life is gone,nothing in the world can bring it back.See the poet's lines:
Can storied urn or animated bust
Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust
Or Flattery soothe the dull cold ear of Death?
Then the poet proceeds to reflect on the emptiness of earthly life.Nobody can escape death.Death lays his icy arms on everybody.Birth,power,beauty and wealth will have to submit to death.
The poet is saddened at the thought that the talents gifted rustics did not flower owing to their poverty and lack of education.Many of them would have become poets,patriots and administrators had they been given opportunities.But he feels in a way consoled.The poor have not performed great achevements but they have committed no crimes.
Gray appends to his "Elegy" an epitaph. Prof.Bateson and Prof.Odell Shepherd consider the epitaph as a serious flaw in this great poem.They believe that the epitaph should have been written as a separate poem.
