1a. What do lines 13 through 28 lament?
2a. Of what does the speaker warn in lines 29 through 44?
3a. Paraphrase the speaker's message in lines 45 through 80?
4a. What images are used in the opening four stanzas of the poem? What mood or feeling is created by these images?
5a. How does Gray attempt to portray the simple, rustic life as attractive and desirable? How effectively does the poem do this?
1b. What about the farmers' lives does the speaker find appealing?
2b. Why does the speaker assume that the powerful will criticize the poor?
3b. What might give these common people an opportunity to express their talents in the world at large?
4b. How does this mood relate to the theme of the poem? What is it about the rustic lives of the farmers buried in the churchyard that makes this mood an appropriate opening for this poem?
5b. In what way are the poor equal to the rich? Do you think modern attitudes toward the poor and uneducated would have pleased Gray? Do those with power and wealth view the poor as potential Miltons and Cromwells but for the lack of education, as he hopes in lines 59–60, or would they see the poor with mocking and disdain, as he fears in lines 29–32? Do you agree with Gray's attitude toward a simple, uneducated life? Why, or why not?
Elegy. For whom does the speaker in this poem grieve? Given that elegies are usually written about famous people, what makes this elegy unique? Explain.
Speaker. Review the cluster chart you made in Literary Tools. What can you infer about the speaker of this poem? What sort of person is he?
1. An epitaph is a brief inscription or verse to be used on a tomb or written commemoration of someone who has died. Write an epitaph for someone important to you. This may be a loved one, friend or neighbor who has died, a deceased leader you have admired, or someone else from public life.
2. A paraphrase is a rewriting of a passage in different words. Review the epitaph of this poem on page 669 and write a paraphrase that would help someone with limited education or ability to speak English understand. Do your best to preserve the meaning as well as the feeling expressed in these words.
3. Graveyards and churches provoke strong feelings in many of us. What feelings do they cause you to have? Contemplate a church or graveyard that you have visited or seen in passing. You may wish to visit it again for the purposes of this exercise. What sounds do you hear? What is the quality of the light? What colors and shapes and images do you see? Write a brief (two- to four-stanza) poem about this experience. You may write in rhymed or free verse, as you choose.
Critical Thinking. Use your remembering and visualizing skills to answer the following questions.
1. What is the quality of light in the graveyard at the beginning of the poem?
2. What do you visualize around the hearth after reading stanza 6?
3. How do you visualize the deceased after reading stanza 14?
4. How do you visualize the lives of the deceased after reading stanza 19?
5. What do you imagine as you read stanza 25?
Researching Your Local Churchyard. Using the resources available in your school and public libraries as well as the recollections of people in the community, research the history of a church graveyard in your community. Working in small groups, select a church graveyard near your school and develop a list of questions about the history of the graveyard and the kinds of people buried there. Interview the minister, rabbi, priest, or other official of the church if possible.
Research Findings:
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