What little he wrote bears witness to the scholarship, refinement, and depth of feeling of the recluse. His "Elegy," meditated in Stoke Pogis churchyard near his mother's home, where he spent the summer, is probably the most thoroughly English poem ever written. It was begun in 1742 and finished in 1750; during the interval it was polished and revised so effectively that not a word can be altered without detracting from its symmetry and splendor. The dignity of the classic spirit and the wistful grace of Romanticism are both apparent, but the keynote is quiet, simple love of everyday life tinged with moral reflection, the note sounded again and again in English poetry and prose.
THE MAN
1. What was Gray's education; did he travel?
2. What was his nature?
3. How did he spend his life?
4. What was the character of the age in which he lived?
5. What influence did this period have upon Gray?
6. In what period would he have been more active?
7. How did he show national tendencies in his work?
"ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD"