This document provides an analysis of Thomas Gray's poem "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard". It defines an elegy as a poem that expresses sorrow or lamentation for the dead. The document then discusses what William J. Long wrote about Gray's earlier poems and their themes of melancholy. It also provides context on when Gray wrote the poem, the critical controversy around its interpretation, and how it was influenced by both the Neoclassical and Romantic periods. In conclusion, it notes that unlike traditional elegies, Gray's poem does not focus on a specific person but aims to express broader insights about life and death.

1. “Elegy : Written in a Country Churchyard by
Thomas Gray”
PAPER NO,102
HISTORY OF ENGILSH LITERATURE FROM 1350 TO 1900
UNIT :3 Neo-Classical Age
Presented by Divya sheta
Roll no.08
Contact : divyasheta@gmail.com

2. • CONTENT
 Defination of the word “Elegy”
 What William J. Long Writes...
 About the Poem
 Critical Controversy
 Historical Context

3.  According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, “Elegy is a
song or poem expressing sorrow or lamentation
especially for one who is dead.
 An elegy is a poem that reflects upon death or loss.
Traditionally, it contains themes of mourning, loss, and
reflection. However, it can also explore themes of
redemption and consolation.
• Defination of Elegy:

4. • What William J Long
Writes…
• Thomas Gray’s Earlier poems reveal
two suggestive things:
1. The appearance of that melancholy
which characterizes all the poetry of the
period.
2. The study of nature nor for it’s own
beauty or truth, but rather as a suitable
background for the play of human
emotion.

5. • About The Poem:
 Gray probable sketched this poem when he lived for a
short time at Stoke Poges, which was not finished till
1750, but eight years later.
 Concept of Lacrimae rerum.(tears of things)
 embodies a meditation on death, and remembrance
after death.
 The two versions of the poem, the first contains
a stoict response to death, but the final version contains
an epitaph which serves to repress the narrator's fear of
dying.

6. • Critical Controversy of the poem
 almost always look at it as a broader philosophical
statement about how fortune in this world ends up
being no help to the dead, an interpretation that rests
almost entirely upon line 36, “The paths of glory lead
but to the grave.” David Kelly.
 Thomas Gray never tried to publish this poem.

7. • Historical Context
 The poem was written at the end of the Augustan Age
and at the beginning of the romantic period and the
poem has characteristics associated with both literary
periods.
 Balanced phrasing and rational sentiments of Neo-
Classical poetry.
 It tends towards the individualism of the Romantic poets,
most importantly it idealizes and elevates the common
man.

8. • Continue…
 Gray was writing this
poem, the world was
going through a period of
intellectual development
that thinkers of the time
dubbed the “Age of
Enlightenment.
(philosophical movement)”

9. • In a Nutshell….
 This Elegy is not written in it’s proper way. Because most elegies
are say on the death of a person or persons and also about one’s
life. But this Elegy doesn't focus on one person’s death. Here,
Gray’s primary purpose is to express feelings and insights about
it’s subject rather than to tell a story.
 Who make us afraid? Life or death? or we believe
ourselves fearful?

10. • Sources:
 https://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/elegy#:~:text=1%20%3A%20a%20poem%20in%20elegiac,is%
20usually%20nostalgic%20or%20melancholy
 https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/christianity/christianity-
general/enlightenment
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elegy_Written_in_a_Country_Churchyard
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment#/media/File:ANICET-
CHARLES-GABRIEL_LEMONNIER_A_READING_OF_VOLTAIRE.jpg
 History of English Literature By William.J.Long.

11. THANK YOU.