Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (Cyclopedia of Literary Places)
At a glance:
- Author: Thomas Gray
- First Published: 1751
- Type of Work: Poetry
- Genres: Poetry, Elegy
- Subjects: Rural or country life, Poverty or poor people, God, Human race, England or English people, Eighteenth century, Death or dying, Life, philosophy of, Life and death, Church or churches, Cemeteries
Places Discussed
Country churchyard. Cemetery adjoining an unnamed rural or village church. There is no way of knowing which particular country churchyard Thomas Gray was looking at or thinking about when he composed this poem. It is known, however, that he spent most of his life quietly as a professor at Cambridge University in Cambridge, England. He traveled in the summer to Scotland and the Lake District in northwest England, and as a youth he traveled to Europe. A churchyard scene such as he describes in the poem would be familiar to most Europeans.
Place is...
[The entire page is 602 words long]
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