Romantic element in the “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”.

Elegy Written in a country Churchyard

Thomas Gray

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,

The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,

The plowman homeward plods his weary way,

And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

 

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;

 

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.

 

Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade,

Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap,

Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,

The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

 

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.

 

For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,

Or busy housewife ply her evening care:

No children run to lisp their sire's return,

Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.

 

Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,

Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke;

How jocund did they drive their team afield!

How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!

 

Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,

Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;

Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile

The short and simple annals of the poor.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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?

 

Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid

Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;

Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway'd,

Or wak'd to ecstasy the living lyre.

 

But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page

Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll;

Chill Penury repress'd their noble rage,

And froze the genial current of the soul.

 

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.

 

Some village-Hampden, that with dauntless breast

The little tyrant of his fields withstood;

Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,

Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.

 

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,

 

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,

 

The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide,

To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame,

Or heap the shrine of Luxury and Pride

With incense kindled at the Muse's flame.

 

Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife,

Their sober wishes never learn'd to stray;

Along the cool sequester'd vale of life

They kept the noiseless tenor of their way.

 

Yet ev'n these bones from insult to protect,

Some frail memorial still erected nigh,

With uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture deck'd,

Implores the passing tribute of a sigh.

 

Their name, their years, spelt by th' unletter'd muse,

The place of fame and elegy supply:

And many a holy text around she strews,

That teach the rustic moralist to die.

 

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?

 

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,

Ev'n in our ashes live their wonted fires.

 

For thee, who mindful of th' unhonour'd Dead

Dost in these lines their artless tale relate;

If chance, by lonely contemplation led,

Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate,

 

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.

 

"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.

 

"Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn,

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.

 

"One morn I miss'd him on the custom'd hill,

Along the heath and near his fav'rite tree;

Another came; nor yet beside the rill,

Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he;

 

"The next with dirges due in sad array

Slow thro' the church-way path we saw him borne.

Approach and read (for thou canst read) the lay,

Grav'd on the stone beneath yon aged thorn."

 

THE EPITAPH

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.

 

Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere,

Heav'n did a recompense as largely send:

He gave to Mis'ry all he had, a tear,

He gain'd from Heav'n ('twas all he wish'd) a friend.

 

No farther seek his merits to disclose,

Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,

(There they alike in trembling hope repose)

The bosom of his Father and his God.

 

 

 

Romantic element in the “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”.

Or,

What are transitional characteristic in the essay?

Do you think this Elegy is a blend of Neo-classicism and romanticism?

 

=> Thomas Gray is generally regarded as a transitional figure in the 18^th century poetry, providing of bridge between the poetic sensibility of his own generation and the romantic revelation of the future. A school of critics tries to establish the fact that Gray was more sensitive to impending trends of romanticism which came soon to an eclipse classicism.

                                 Gray’s “Elegy written in a Country Churchyard” is a blend of two literary trends classicism and romanticism. The Elegy is provided by subjectivity, element of nature, imagination, universal melancholy and sympathy for the poor – those are characteristic feature of impending Romanticism.   

                                      A large part of charm of the “Elegy” comes from poet’s personal sensitive approach to his subject. He begins to shift his attention from suffocated town to pristine country side. One of the most conspicuous feature Romanticism is nature. He is Romantic in his celebration of nature. The Elegy begins with the sensitive description of the natural landscape. The sights and sounds described in the opening stanza, create a natural atmosphere and suggest the interest in many sides of nature.

                             “The curfew tolls the knell of parting day

                             The lowering herd wind slowly o’er the lea”

He builds up an atmosphere of rural evening. The sheep producing natural sounds the farmer plodding his weary way, introduces a philosophic music into a description of natural scenery. He is more than an observer. He sees the silhouette of an “ivy-manta led tower.” He gradually lowers his eyes and sees the descending evening, a glimmering landscape. There are meticulous observation of Gray towards nature and he ranks the pre-cursors of Word worth.

 

                                                An element of diffusal melancholy is the notable Characteristic of Romantic poetry. Truely speaking, the Elegy is the beginning of “literature of melancholy”. The whole poem is pervaded by an atmosphere of melancholy which lends to the poem a romantic character. The Elegy is inspired by the thought of death, the great mother of melancholy and sadness are condensed in “the boast of Heraldry, the pomp of power and all that beauty, all that wealth……….”

 

                                      The sense of solitude becomes alive everywhere. Being blanketed by the gradual descending evening with its “solemn stillness”, he sees solitude in the midst of graves. The darkness itself acquires a human entity standing with in about around. He expresses a mournful music.

         

                                      The sympathy for the tailors was the staple of pioneer poets of romanticism. The speaker reflects the quite darkness of the Churchyard on the contrast between the lives of the rural poor, the peasant’s simple life and “madding crowd ignoble strife” evidently issues out his romantic sensibility. His genuine concern for the dead “rude forefathers”, “some heart” once pregnant with “celestial fire”, “worked to ecstasy”, are brilliant conjecture.

 

Thus, his direct effort to express his personal thought the garb of imagination, his attempt to see man in close touch with nature, his love for nature, a pervasive melancholy and sympathy for the poor Gray anticipates Words Worth, Shelly, Keats and their contemporaries.

What is Elegy?

=> An Elegy is a song of lamentation for the dead. But Gray's elegy does not mourn  anybody's death in particular. It is a sorrowful reflection on the sorrows, misfortunes and disappointments of human life.

Explanation

Elegy written in a Country Churchyard

“Let not Ambition mock their useful toil

  Their homely joys and destiny obscure

Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful simile

 The short and simple annals of the poor”

 

 

 

These lines are extracted from Gray’s Elegy written in country Church village churchyard. He sees the graves where the “rude forefathers of the Hamlet sleep.” He describes farmer activities of the dead peasants both during the day and in the evening, refers to their hard but joyful toil they did to plough their lands the neither the sweet –smelling morning breeze nor the twittering of the swallows from the thatched roofs of cottage can break the eternal sleep of the humble forefathers of the peasants. Then the poet alludes to the tendency of the rich, ambitions, proud persons to make fun of the manual labor of the poor rustics and warns them against ridiculing the toil of the peasants which is essential for keeping the wheels of civilization a going, Gray also calls upon the high-born people who live in pomp and luxury not to listen to the short, simple life story of the poor ancestors of the village former with contempt because their life has been uneventful and bore.

 

Comment:-

                    This stanza illustrates one of the predominant features of Neo-classical poetry. Here such abstract things as “Ambition”, “Grandeur”, are personified. The last line of the stanza is said to have supplied the little of the famous book Annals of the Poor by Richmond. Here Gray sides with the have-nots against the wealthy, pompous and proud people.