THOMAS GRAY

LIFE

Thomas Gray was born in London il 1716 and was educated first at Eton, with Horace Walpole, and then at Cambridge.

In his uneventful life, the only reamrkable event he had was a tour on the ontinent with Horace Walpole, with whom he quarreled, thus ending his tour alone; his friendship was resumed after three years.

In 1757 he refused poet laureatship, and in 1768 he was appointed Prpofessor of History and modern languages at Cambridge, but for his shyness, he could never bring himself to lecture.

He died in 1771 and was buried in the little country churchyard of Stoke Poges, the village that probably inspired his famous elegy.

WORKS

Gray's was a quite uneventful life of study and writing, and charatarized by a 'white melancholy', as he called in a letter.

His literary production was very scanty because he was very slowly to write a poem; we can divid his works in 3 periods.

1st period

Hymn to Adversity

Ode on a distant Prospect of Eton college

2nd period

Progress of Poesy A pindaric ode on poetry in various eras and places.

Elegy written in a country churchyard

The Bard

3rd period

The fatal Sisters

The descent of Odin

Welsh Odes

PLOT

Gray took more of seven years to write this elegy, that was probably inspired by the death of his friend Richard West, and that is modelled on the 24 ode of Horace first book of odes.

We can divid the elegy in three moments.

Stanzas 1-11: In a small country chuechyard, at the end of the day, the sight of the tombs of the forefathers of the hamlet, calls in the poet's mind images of humble life.

These images, that are rich in symbolic elements, like the yews, the elms, the swallow's nest, the cockcrow and the horn, lead Gray to meditate on death and on his levelling power, wich sweeps away human differences.

Stanzas 12-23: Gray compares the humble life of poor people and the great carrers from which fate has excluded them; but he also considers that in this way they are prevented from committing crimes and falling in luxury, pride and corruption.

He links the second part with the first trough the contrast with the pompous funeral of the great and the simple funeral of the poor., contrast that is emphasized by the use os capitalized personifications (ambitions, luxury, pride, Flattery).

In this part there are historical references, and there is too the differences of the mortuary sculpture of the great and the simple frail memorials of the poor.

Stanzas 24-32:  The poems ends with the supposed death of the poet and with his burial in the little country churchyard and the epitaph of his tomb that resume all his life and beliefs.

In this poem Gray alternates descriptions and reflections.

We can see many neoclassicism in this poem, like the reference to Virgil, Horace or Theocritus; but near this classicism there are many novelties like the denunciation of the hard life of poor, that are happy people but are victims of nature and society.

Being a transition poem, the Elegy has always been considered classical in form and romantic in content, so we can divid the elements in two parts:

Classical Elements

use of astract personification

idillic wiev of country life

use of alternately rhymed quatrains of iambic pentameters already present in Dryden

universality of themes

excessive time required to polish each stanza, thus excluding immediacy of inspiration

clear influence of poetic classics such as Dante Lucretius and Petrarch

Early Romantic Elements

setting: a country churchyard

time of day: twilight

interest or simaty for poor or humble people

nature seen as made of earths, trees and animals

images of history and past ages

GRAY AND FOSCOLO

The elegy is the greatest Gray's work and the most know in Europe of the mid-century; it became very popular in italy where it inspired Foscolo's Sepolcri.

But there are many differences between Foscolo and Gray: the first infact concentrated on the function of grave, like a link between the life and death.

Foscolo, ignoring the interest of Gray for the humble people, dedicated hi sworks to analize the tomb of great in Santa Croce and their power of exciting a spirit of emulation in posterity.