Page 265 - DENG405_BRITISH_POETRY

British Poetry

Notes 25.4.2 Class Conflict

A superficial reading of this poem might leave the impression that the author intends to present
members of the lower class as being more worthy of praise than their upper-class counterparts. This
would be a reasonable assumption, since so much of the poem is devoted to praising the simple
virtues of the poor. In the larger scope, though, the position that Gray takes is that all people, poor or
rich, are equal. This is a meditation on death, which has been called the “great equalizer” because no
can avoid it. The reason that the poem seems to favor one class over the other is that it is working
against the assumption that only those of the upper class are worthy of attention when they die. It is
the humble condition of the country churchyard, with gravestones unmarked or possibly marked
just with names by illiterate people unable to read, that draws attention to the virtues of the poor and
uneducated (which society often forgets), and so much of the poem is spent praising their moral
strength. The virtues of the wealthy and famous are not denied, they just are not explored in this
poem because they are already so familiar. Evidence of the poem’s evenhandedness about the different
classes can be seen in the fact that, while praising the poor country people throughout, Gray also
acknowledges that education, which may give them opportunity to develop moral excellence, may
also lead them to corruption: as he says in stanza 17, the humble circumstances of the poor limited the
growth not only of their virtues but also of their crimes. The poem thus leaves open the question of
superiority. Society glorifies the rich, and the poem’s narrator glorifies the poor, but, as he reminds
us, “The paths of glory lead but to the grave.”

25.5 Summary

• Thomas Gray was born in Cornhill, London, the son of an exchange broker and a milliner.
• In 1738 he accompanied his old school-friend Walpole on his Grand Tour of Europe, possibly
at Walpole’s expense.
• Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” was first published in 1751.

• 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.
• Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is a poem clearly demonstrating
the history and tradition of the society.
• Death Gray’s “Elegy” is one of the best-known poems about death in all of European literature.

25.6 Keywords

Churchyard : An enclosed area surrounding a church, especially as used for burials.
Impute : Ascribe to someone by virtue of a similar quality in another.
Bountry : A reward paid for killing or capturing someone
Tribute : An act, statement, or gift intended to show gratitude, respect or admiration.

25.7 Review Questions

1. The poem’s title implies that the poem was actually written in a country churchyard, not
merely that it is an imaginative reconstruction of such a scene. Why is this claim significant
to any interpretation of the poem’s meaning?
2. How does the pastoral environment affect the narrator’s emotional state?

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