Thomas Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751) – Jan. 9
Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" was first published in 1751. Gray
may, however, have begun writing the poem in 1742, shortly after the death of his close
friend Richard West. An elegy is a poem or funeral song which laments the dead. Gray's
"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" is noteworthy in that it mourns the death
not of great or famous people, but of common men. The speaker of this poem sees a
country churchyard at sunset, which impels him to meditate on the nature of human
mortality. The poem invokes the classical idea of memento mori, a Latin phrase which states
plainly to all mankind, "Remember that you must die." The speaker considers the fact that
in death, there is no difference between great and common people. He goes on to wonder if
among the lowly people buried in the churchyard there had been any natural poets or
politicians whose talent had simply never been discovered or nurtured. This thought leads
him to praise the dead for the honest, simple lives that they lived.
Gray did not produce a great deal of poetry; the "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,"
however, has earned him a respected and deserved place in literary history. The poem was
written at the end of the Augustan Age and at the beginning of the Romantic period, and the
poem has characteristics associated with both literary periods. On the one hand, it has the
ordered, balanced phrasing and rational sentiments of neoclassical poetry. On the
other hand, it tends toward the emotionalism and individualism of the Romantic
poets; most importantly, it idealizes and elevates the common man.
Important Lines
57. Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast
58. The little tyrant of his fields withstood;
59. Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
60. Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country's blood.
THE EPITAPH
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 God.
Explanation 57-60: He goes on to wonder if among the lowly people buried in the
churchyard there had been any natural poets or politicians whose talent had simply never
been discovered or nurtured.

Pastoral poetry is about shepherds. “Pastor” is Latin for shepherd.

Pastoral is a deliberately conventional poem expressing an urban poet’s nostalgic
image of the peace and simplicity of the life of shepherds and other simple people in
the rural setting.
 Pastoral Conventions
o Idyllic landscape
o An atmosphere of otium (leisurely contemplation, often in retirement from
public life)
o A conscious attention to nature and art
o Representation of shepherds as singers, lovers
The Gothic
 Literature that develops a brooding atmosphere of gloom and terror