In Thomas Gray’s Elegy, he writes a good deal about himself. The six stanzas in the main text and a tail-like appendix of three stanzas called the Epitaph are all self-drawn character studies of the poet. Many critics argue that the Elegy would have been greater and more artistic without these nine stanzas. This criticism deserves close examination.
Nine stanzas of the Elegy written in a Country Churchyard make an independent elegy by themselves. In these stanzas, the poet sheds melodious tears over his own grave. There is something silly or childish or puerile in this. A photographer’s own picture inserted in a group photograph taken by him may seem inartistic. A painter painting his own picture on the canvas of a portrait he drew may look awkward. Inserting himself into the poem spoils the structural unity of the composition.
Gray draws his own picture within the text of his poem in an imaginary conversation between a poet and a hoary-headed swain. If, by mere chance, any brother-poet enquires about Thomas Gray, the writer of this elegy, the swain or country-shepherd, will answer that enquiry. Gray supplied all the answers within quotation marks. It is the poet Gray himself who puts the answer into the mouth of the hoary-headed swain. This is inartistic and artificial.
At the end of the imaginary conversation between the brother poet and the country swain, the poet sets up a tail-like epitaph. The swain asks the poet (a kindred spirit) to read the epitaph on the tombstone of the author of the Elegy written in a Country Churchyard. This is more artificial than the imaginary conversation described earlier.
A good many traits in the character of Thomas Gray are enumerated in the nine stanzas of the imaginary conversation and the Epitaph.
(a) Love of Nature – Gray’s love of Nature’s sights and sounds is the first element of his character pointed out in the reply of the imaginary swain to the kindred spirit (brother-poet). Walking hastily to watch the sunrise on the eastern horizon, lounging in Mother Nature’s lap in the shade of a beech tree, listening to the dimpling melody of a neighbouring streamlet at noon, etc., were Grey’s pastimes and pleasures.
(b) Whims and Fancies – The swain also mentions Gray as a man of whims and fancies. Walking about murmuring to himself, sometimes dull or morose, often in a melancholy mood, Gray gives the impression that he is a highly worried man or frustrated lover. His eccentricity was to be self-complaining in solitude.
(c) Obscure, Scholarly, Taciturn -The first stanza of Gray’s Epitaph on himself states that, as a man, he was poor and obscure. In spite of his poverty and obscurity, he was blessed by the Goddess of knowledge. Science (all kinds of knowledge) seems to have smiled upon him. In addition, he was dull and always reticent. Goddess Melancholy seems to have regarded Gray as her pet, her favourite minion.
(d) Perfect Christian Charity—In his self-drawn portrait, Gray adds in the Epitaph that his perfect Christian charity earned him the reward of God’s grace. His sincere sympathy for the unprivileged sections of society earned him God’s friendship and blessings. His generosity was not measured in pounds, shillings, or pence; he gave all he had to misery, a tear. He was an ideal Christian.
The Epitaph closes with an instruction that it is wrong to further analyse the character of a person now resting in peace in the bosom of God.
WORKS CITED
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44299/elegy-written-in-a-country-churchyard
Bloom, Harold. Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”. Chelsea House Publishers, 2005.
Patton, Charles. A Reading of Gray’s Elegy. Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard – Analysis and Context.” Anthology of British Literature, University of Virginia. https://anthology.lib.virginia.edu
https://ashlit.in/2024/12/02/notes-on-the-popularity-of-grays-elegy-written-in-a-country-churchyard/
Dr Aswathy Aravindakshan is a teacher, bilingual writer and artist with over two decades of experience in teaching English language and literature. She currently serves as Assistant Professor of English at NSS College for Women, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. Her blog, ashlit.in brings together academic resources, creative writing in Malayalam and English, and visual art. The platform features lecture notes, study materials, poems, reflections, short prose, and a curated collection of her paintings. Through this space, she seeks to foster learning, creativity, and meaningful engagement with literature and the arts.
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