THOMAS GRAY Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

THOMAS GRAY ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’

Literary Terms l l l l Allusion Stanza Alliteration Tone Rhyme Scheme Meter Imagery l l l Setting Theme Gothic Imitation Pastoral Elegy

Thoughts: l What makes a person Ordinary? l Why would someone wish to live in anonymity? l Are the lives of the ‘ordinary’ suitable subjects for serious poetry?

QUESTION #1 l What TONE is established in the first stanza? l What DETAILS create the Tone?

ANSWER #1 FSomber, Sad, Sober, Peaceful FRhythm, images of Darkness

QUESTION #2 l What is the predominant meter of the poem? l What is the Rhyme Scheme?

ANSWER #2 FIambic Pentameter FABAB

QUESTION #3 l Why might Gray include the IMAGES he does in lines 21 -28? l What kinds of Images do these people portray?

ANSWER #3 FEmphasize the contrast between the living and the dead. FCommon people; farm families

QUESTION #4 l Line 32 is one of the most oft-quoted lines in the Elegy. “The short and simple annals of the poor. ” Do you agree that the stories of the poor are short and simple? Explain.

ANSWER #4 FNO- Life is complex… FYES- Poor struggle only to survive day-to-day

QUESTION #5 l What does Gray lament in lines 45 -48?

ANSWER #5 FWasted talent of the poor

QUESTION #6 l In lines 49 -52, n To what does Gray attribute the lost ambitions of the previous stanza?

ANSWER #6 F(Poverty) and Lack of Knowledge are Reasons that people did not influence

QUESTION #7 l The last stanza on p 602 sums up one of the poet’s general themes. What is that Theme?

ANSWER #7 FBeauty in life is often obscured by its HARSHNESS

QUESTION #8 l Note the historical allusion in lines 57 -60: What is a ‘mute Milton’? ? (p 435) Why does the poet allude to Milton and Cromwell?

ANSWER #8 FPerson unable to use language; FThose who died may have been able to achieve what Milton and Cromwell did.

QUESTION #9 l What is the significance of the rhetorical question in lines 85 -88?

ANSWER #9 FEmphasizes that Love of Life And Fear of Life are common to the rich and poor alike.

QUESTION #10 l Whom does the poet or speaker address in the last stanza of p 603?

ANSWER #10 FHimself

QUESTION #11 l Line 104 shows examples of Alliteration and Imitation. What words in this line represent these Lit. Terms?

ANSWER #11 FBrook, Babble

QUESTION #12 l Whose epitaph concludes the poem?

ANSWER #12 FThe speaker’s, the poet’s-the person who cared to think about those who rested in the cemetery where he himself is now laid.

THE CAPITALIZED WORDS Ambition Grandeur Memory Honor Flattery Death Knowledge Penury Luxury Pride Forgetfulness Nature Contemplation Fortune Fame Melancholy Misery Hope