Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

E61631

elegy meditative poem poem

"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" is a renowned mid-18th-century meditative poem by Thomas Gray reflecting on mortality, social class, and the lives of the rural poor.

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Observed surface forms (1)

Surface form	Occurrences
association with "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"	1

Statements (48)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	elegy ⓘ meditative poem ⓘ poem ⓘ
author	Thomas Gray ⓘ
compositionEndDate	1750 ⓘ
compositionStartDate	1742 ⓘ
countryOfOrigin	Kingdom of Great Britain ⓘ
famousLine	And waste its sweetness on the desert air ⓘ Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife ⓘ Full many a flower is born to blush unseen ⓘ The curfew tolls the knell of parting day ⓘ The paths of glory lead but to the grave ⓘ
firstPublicationDate	1751 ⓘ
form	elegiac stanza ⓘ
genre	graveyard poetry ⓘ lyric poetry ⓘ
influenced	English Romantic poetry ⓘ William Wordsworth ⓘ Graveyard poets ⓘ surface form: graveyard school of poetry
language	English ⓘ
literaryMovement	pre-Romanticism ⓘ
literaryPeriod	18th-century literature ⓘ
metre	iambic pentameter ⓘ
notableFeature	blend of classical and Christian imagery ⓘ meditation on anonymous lives ⓘ use of universal first-person reflection ⓘ
numberOfLines	128 ⓘ
originalTitle	An Elegy wrote in a Country Church Yard ⓘ
placeOfFirstPublication	London, England ⓘ surface form: London
publisher	Robert Dodsley ⓘ
rhymeScheme	ABAB ⓘ
setting	country churchyard ⓘ rural England ⓘ
stanzaCount	32 ⓘ
stanzaForm	quatrain ⓘ
structure	consideration of unrealized potential ⓘ epitaph section at the end ⓘ introductory meditation on evening and churchyard ⓘ reflection on the lives of the rural dead ⓘ
theme	death ⓘ inevitability of death ⓘ limitations of social ambition ⓘ memory and remembrance ⓘ mortality ⓘ obscurity and fame ⓘ rural life ⓘ social class ⓘ the lives of the rural poor ⓘ

Referenced by (5)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

St Giles' Church, Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, England → associatedWork → Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard ⓘ

subject surface form: St Giles' Church, Stoke Poges

St Giles' Church, Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, England → knownFor → Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard ⓘ

subject surface form: St Giles' Church, Stoke Poges

this entity surface form: association with "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard"

Graveyard poets → notableWork → Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard ⓘ

Thomas Gray → notableWork → Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard ⓘ

Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College → relatedWorkByAuthor → Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard ⓘ