Second Year English Notes Sindh Board AN ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD

STANZA FROM AN ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD

(Thomas Gray)

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is a Restoration Period poem by Thomas Gray. An elegy, by strict definition, is usually a lament for the dead. 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. At first, the poem reflects on death in a mostly detached way, as someone who is resigned to death’s outcome. Yet, the epitaph he writes for himself at the end of the poem reflects a fear of death. Elegy is a renowned English poet, regarded as one of the best of the time, and arguably of all time. It was popular when it was first written and was reprinted many times.

The speaker begins the poem by saying he is in a churchyard with a bell tolling for the end of the day, he uses this image as a metaphor for life and death. He describes the scenery around him, speaking of the sun setting, the church tower covered in ivy, and an owl hooting. He then focuses on the graveyard around him. He speaks of the men who are in the graves and how they were probably simple village folk. They’re dead and nothing will wake these villagers, not a rooster’s call in the morning, not twittering birds, and not the smell of the morning breeze. The speaker also laments that life’s pleasures will no longer be felt by those buried in the graveyard, especially emphasizing the joys of family life.

The dead villagers probably were farmers, and the speaker discusses how they probably enjoyed farming. He warns that although it sounds like a simple life, no one should mock a good honest working life as these men once had. No one should mock these men because, in death, these arbitrary ideas of being wealthy or high-born do not matter. Fancy grave markers will not bring someone back to life, and neither will the honor of being well born.

The speaker then wonders about those in the graveyard who are buried in unmarked graves. He wonders if they were full of passion, or if they were potential world leaders who left the world too soon. He wonders if one was a beautiful lyre player, whose music could bring the lyre to life—literally. He laments for the poor villagers, as they were never able to learn much about the world. He uses metaphors to describe their lack of education, that knowledge as a book was never open to them, and that poverty froze their souls.

In the speaker’s own epitaph, he remarks that he has died, unknown to both fame and fortune, as in he never became famous and was not well-born. But at least he was full of knowledge—he was a scholar and a poet. Yet oftentimes, the speaker could become depressed. But he was bighearted and sincere, so heaven paid him back for his good qualities by giving him a friend. His other good and bad qualities do not matter anymore, so he instructs people not to go looking for them since he hopes for a good life in heaven with God.

Q1. Whom the poet Thomas Gray pays tribute in his poem “An Elegy written in a country churchyard?

Ans: Thomas Gray who composed the poem “An Elegy written in a country churchyard”.

He is standing in the churchyard of the village. He thinks about great men who are lying dead in the churchyard. He pays tribute to those who lived in the past but dead now.

Q2. What scene does the poet present in his poem” An Elegy written in a country churchyard?

Ans: The poets present a very sad and poetic scene in his poem. There is no disturbing of the people. Few interesting and charming sounds like beetles song, the tinkling of the bells and the owl can be heard.

Q3. What the poet reminds while standing in the churchyard?

Ans. The poet reminds the past years of the people who are lying still in their graves. He thinks their graves are mostly under elm and yew trees but once they were famous and the people liked them.

Q4. How the dead people enjoy the peaceful sleep?

Ans. Thomas Gray says that the dead people in the churchyard are enjoying their peaceful sleep because no one is there to disturb them. Neither the fragrant breeze blowing throws the leaves nor the twittering of swallow from her nest. Neither the sharp crowing of the croak nor the blowing of the horn can awake them from their sound sleep in their graves.

Q5: Who will not comfort and love these dead people?

Ans. The poet says that the blazing heart can give them no pleasure. Their lives can no longer provide them comfort and their children will no more welcome them because they are dead.

Q6: What the poet reminds the living people of the world?

Ans. The poet reminds the living people of the world that the end of everything is death. The people who think themselves the most powerful or proud and those who respected here due to their beauty and health must all one day lie. The people who spend a glorious life must die one day.

Q7: What the poet complains to the people of the world about those who are lying still.

Ans. The poet complains to the living people of the world that they have forgotten those great men who are no more among them. He advises the people to remember those people in their prayer because there was a time when they had devoted their lives to them.