Thomas Gray?s poem ?Elegy written in a country churchyard?, extols death, but not in any dramatically magnificent terms, neither in any overwhelming sentimentality. He talks of the church graveyard, where he and other ordinary mortals are buried. The setting is rural, pastoral, evoking the eternal tranquil, which is so characteristic of English romanticism, stemming from nature and landscape itself. It is an exquisite mixture of the somber mood with the serene.The first stanza paints a scene of dusk and twilight, when the ploughman returns home from a hard day?s work. This is symbolic of the man who has passed the prime of his life and also gone beyond life itself. For him there is only darkness, because he cannot experience what life has to offer, and he is buried underground. Moreover, it is evening, night itself, after day, the rest period of the living world.Various night scenes and sounds gradually unfold. The tired ploughman is slowly returning from a hard day?s work. So is the cattle. The returning crowd like a curfew, when no public is seen, is indicative of ringing the knell, which is the bell signifying oncoming death. It is some kind of death, since the day has gone by, extending to the dead itself, symbolically. The curfew tolls the knell of the dying or parting or fading day. The landscape colors fade out too, the air is heavy with the silence, except for a slumberous, homebound droning beetle, and delicate lulling noises touching the distant folds of the hills. The solitary nocturnal owl, from her secret abode in the ivy covered tower, reacts strongly against anyone who disturbs her, and the moon is the only one that can pay heed to her, during that time. The silence in the graveyard seems more pronounced under the elms and the yew tree, where each dead individual lies in his own coffin, underground. The sleep of the dead is so eternal, that the smells and sounds of the next day or morning, fresh, breezy and lively, will not wake them up at all. The dead will have no cosy home with fire burning to return to, warm with the love of wife and children. They were once productive farmers, who no ambitious person can mock- since their toil, is the bearer of the whole society and economy, however much anonymous. Grandeur, wealth or obscurity, all have to end in and pass through the grave. An obscure person may have profound contributions in his own way, or in such intrinsic, singular levels that few may understand it. A brave person or a musician can also be lying under.The Eternal Knowledge belittles no one, whether a short-lived unseen fragrant flower or a Milton or a Cromwell. Whether vice or virtue, shameful deeds, luxurious, proud acts, none can escape the ravages of death. The settings are in completely secluded, quiet surroundings, with a lot of show again, in building epitaphs with mechanical eulogies. It talks of humility and sincerity, even if abstaining from fame and fortune themselves.Gray?s aim is to point out the dignity of the dead, and death itself. Death is a great leveler, not holding out differences like the living world. It is quiet, secretive almost, and it promises profound eternity, in a way no one can understand.
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