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Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
By Thomas Gray
1751
Thomas Gray (1716-1771) was an English poet and scholar. An elegy is a mournful or melancholic poem
meant to lament the dead. In “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” the speaker contemplates whether
remembering the dead is good or bad as he imagines the people buried in the churchyard. As you read, take
notes on Gray’s use of metaphor, personification, and sound devices like alliteration, and what his purpose
for these techniques might be.
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[1]
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
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The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea ,
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The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to
me.
[2]
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;
[3]
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.
[4]
Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree’s shade,
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Where heaves the turf in many a mould’ring heap,
Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,
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The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.
[5]
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.
[6]
For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,
Or busy housewife ply her evening care:
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No children run to lisp their sire’s return,
Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.
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"Elegy in a Country Churchyard - April 2006 - Stoke Poges Church"
is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Knell (noun): the sound of a bell tolling solemnly to mark someone’s death
Low (verb): to moo
Lea (noun): grassland
Plod (verb): to work slowly and steadily
Moulder (verb): to slowly decay or disintegrate
Hamlet (noun): a settlement, generally smaller than a village
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[7]
Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,
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Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke;
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How jocund did they drive their team afield!
How bow’d the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!
[8]
Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
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The short and simple annals of the poor.
[9]
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.
[10]
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.
[11]
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?
[12]
Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid
Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;
Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway’d,
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Or wak’d to ecstasy the living lyre .
[13]
But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page
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Rich with the spoils of time did ne’er unroll;
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Chill Penury repress’d their noble rage,
And froze the genial current of the soul.
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Sire (noun): father
Sickle (noun): a tool used to cut grass
Glebe (noun): British church land
Jocund (adjective): cheerful and lighthearted
Annals (noun): recorded history
Heraldry (noun): coats of arms
Impute (verb): to attribute, ascribe or credit
Urn (noun): a tall, rounded vase often used for storing the ashes of a cremated person
Lyre (noun): string instrument
Spoils (noun): goods or loot
Penury (noun): extreme poverty; destitution
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[14]
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.
[15]
Some village-Hampden , that with dauntless breast
The little tyrant of his fields withstood;
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Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
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Some Cromwell guiltless of his country’s blood.
[16]
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,
[17]
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,
[18]
The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,
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To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,
Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride
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With incense kindled at the Muse’s flame.
[19]
Far from the madding crowd ‘s ignoble strife,
Their sober wishes never learn’d to stray;
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Along the cool sequester’d vale of life
They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.
[20]
Yet ev’n these bones from insult to protect,
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Some frail memorial still erected nigh ,
With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck’d,
Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.
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A reference to John Hampden, an English politician famous for challenging the authority of King Charles I of England.
A reference to John Milton, author of Paradise Lost.
A reference to Oliver Cromwell, an English anti-royalist leader known for helping to bring about the execution of
Charles I.
“Their lot” refers to the circumstances the dead, impoverished villagers faced during their lifetime.
Circumscribe (verb): to prevent
Ingenuous (adjective): innocent
Muse (noun): a goddess of poetry; an inspiration
A reference to city dwellers.
Sequester (verb): to put someone in isolation
Nigh (adverb): nearby
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[21]
Their name, their years, spelt by th’ unletter’d
The place of fame and elegy supply:
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And many a holy text around she strews ,
That teach the rustic moralist to die.
[22]
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?
[23]
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,
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Ev’n in our ashes live their wonted fires.
[24]
For thee , who mindful of th’ unhonour’d Dead
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Dost in these lines their artless tale relate;
If chance, by lonely contemplation led,
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Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate,
[25]
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.
[26]
“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.
[27]
“Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,
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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.
muse,
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Unlettered (adjective): illiterate
[The muse] adds
Wonted (adjective): accustomed, habituated
Referring to the speaker himself (“me”)
Archaic form of “do”
Artless (adjective): without guile or deception
Referring to the speaker himself (“my”)
Grey-haired
Swain (noun): a young man from the country
Beech (noun): a type of deciduous tree
Rove (verb): to wander
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[28]
“One morn I miss’d him on the custom’d hill,
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Along the heath and near his fav’rite tree;
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Another came; nor yet beside the rill ,
Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he;
[29]
“The next with dirges due in sad array
Slow thro’ the church-way path we saw him borne.
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Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay ,
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Grav’d on the stone beneath yon aged thorn.”
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THE EPITAPH
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[30]
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.
[31]
Large was his bounty , and his soul sincere,
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Heav’n did a recompense as largely send:
He gave to Mis’ry all he had, a tear,
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He gain’d from Heav’n (‘twas all he wish’d) a friend .
[32]
No farther seek his merits to disclose,
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Or draw his frailties from their dread abode ,
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(There they alike in trembling hope repose )
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The bosom of his Father and his God.
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Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray is in the public domain.
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Heath (noun): land covered by shrubs and other low-growing vegetation
Another day
Rill (noun): a small stream
Dirge (noun): mournful music or funeral hymn
Array (noun): an impressive range or display
Can
An old term for a narrative poem or ballad
That
Epitaph (noun): an inscription engraved on a tombstone
Bounty (noun): generosity
Recompense (noun): repayment
Possibly a reference to the poet’s good friend playwright Richard West, who died 25 years before this poem was
written, and about whom Gray wrote another of his poems, “On the Death of Richard West.”
Abode (noun): place of residence
Repose (noun): rest
Bosom (noun): chest; heart
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Text-Dependent Questions
Directions: For the following questions, choose the best answer or respond in complete sentences.
1.
Write a summary of “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” in no more than two
complete sentences.
[RL.2]
2.
How does the poet’s use of alliteration in stanza 2 affect the setting of the poem?
[RL.3]
A.
B.
C.
D.
3.
PART A: Which of the following is one of the central ideas of the poem?
A.
B.
C.
D.
4.
[RL.1]
Stanza 9
Stanza 17
Stanza 20
Stanza 27
As it is used in stanza 12, the phrase “celestial fire” most nearly means:
A.
B.
C.
D.
[RL.2]
Those able to afford more decorated headstones are less likely to be forgotten.
Facing one’s own death is often more feared than heartache or loss.
Those who are kind and generous to others will be the most remembered after
death.
Even the wealthiest, most powerful people cannot escape death.
PART B: Which stanza best supports the central idea from Part A?
A.
B.
C.
D.
5.
It creates an ominous mood to reflect the solemnness of the surrounding
graves.
It mimics the sound of wind to suggest a coming storm.
It emulates a “shushing” sound to emphasize the quiet peacefulness of the
churchyard.
It creates a musical sound to highlight the comforting closeness of the church.
[RL.4]
A mother’s love
Rage
Stars
Passion
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6.
What is the author’s likely purpose for the figurative language in stanza 14?
A.
B.
C.
D.
7.
To draw attention to images of worldly beauty in order to emphasize the
tragedy of death.
To suggest that some of the dead, like hidden gems and blooms unseen, will go
unrecognized for all eternity.
To imply that those with more superficial beauty are the first to be forgotten.
To emphasize the frailty of life and nature - human life, like flowers, does not
last forever.
What is revealed in stanza 30?
A.
B.
C.
D.
[RL.4]
[RL.2]
The speaker is not rich nor famous, but kind and wise.
The speaker is wealthy scholar perpetually distraught at the death of his friend.
The speaker lived a life full of happiness and good friends, despite being poor.
The speaker has been dead all along, and is narrating the poem from the grave.
8.
How does Gray use personification throughout the poem to convey the poem’s
theme?
[RL.2]
9.
How does the speaker’s idea of death change throughout the poem? Cite evidence
from the text in your response.
[RL.6]
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10.
What is the author’s likely purpose for including the epitaph?
[RL.5]
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Discussion Questions
Directions: Brainstorm your answers to the following questions in the space provided. Be prepared to
share your original ideas in a class discussion.
1.
Do you agree with Gray’s perspective on death and remembrance? Why or why not?
2.
In the context of this poem, how do people face death?
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