Elegy written in a country churchyard as an elegy pdf

By NASRULLAH MAMBROLon •

Thomas Gray may have begun writing Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard as early as 1746. He discarded four stanzas of an early version, which were probably read by his friend Horace Walpole, and planned to title the work simply “Stanzas” until his friend William Mason suggested “Elegy” instead.

A meditation in a burial ground proved a popular theme of that era, and Gray may have first thought of recording his thoughts about a graveyard while living next door to a cemetery in Peterhouse. However, the description of the grounds matches those of the churchyard at Stoke Poges, where his mother and aunt lived and he often visited.

He mentions “unhonoured dead,” which suggests members of a rural community, rather than the distinguished occupants of graves in Cambridge; in addition, the scenery as described by Gray matches the Stoke Poges cemetery, particularly that of two yew trees.

Although Gray did not at first intend the poem for publication, it so impressed Walpole that he immediately began to cir

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