Monday, April 15, 2019

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray Essay Example for Free

Elegy pen in a clownish Churchyard by Thomas Gray EssayThomas Grays poem, Elegy Written in a clownish Churchyard, was first published in 1751. Grays idea of unpolished life as describe in this poem is agrarian and devoted to the land. He talks of the breed turning the sod and of the sickle mowing down the grain. He mentions the plowmen driving their team of draught animals from the fields. He tells of wheat sheds and of people awaking to the crow of the rooster. Gray uses the metaphor of sleep to describe demolition. He says that those asleep no long-run call for the voices of children or the touch and the kisses of those loved ones. He describes death as lending a frozen ear and those dead as no longer hearing a call to honor nor does it hear any words of flattery. Gray comments on the deaths of the rich and powerful, saying that those dead are no repair off than the poor dead rustics. He says that the fact that the rich mans bones are in some fine urn does not allo w him to enjoy his mansion any more than the sodbuster enjoys the humble earth in which his bones are placed. Gray takes on the issue of class as a rhetorical device to get his point across that the rewards for both are equal and that death is a leveler of the playing field. He impresses upon the reader the fact that in the humble performyard may deception the remains of a life that had potential for greatness. He says that many sweet blossoms bloom, live and crumble to frame unseen and unknown by anyone. If I were to be lying in the graveyard of the country church I would like to have Gray say of me that I was a friend of heaven, of course, and that I motto and enjoyed the dawns of my days and lived my life to the fullest. Now that I am dead left me sleep in peace of mind and forgive and forget the frailties I displayed on earth. Works Cited Gray, T. Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard 1751

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