"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" by Thomas Grey: A Sometimes Grim, but Hopeful look at Death

When reading through Thomas Grey’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” for the first time, I first needed to look up just what an “elegy” was.  After looking up that an “elegy” is a poem written for or to lament the dead, what I wanted next to figure out who this poem was for or who it is lamenting.  Through a few key stanzas in the poem, I was able to figure out who this poem was for. 

            I will say, however that at the start of my investigation to figure out who this poem was for, the first stanza that had an impact on me was from lines 33-36 when it states,

“The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,

And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave,

Awaits alike the inevitable hour:

The paths of glory lead but to the grave.”

So basically what Mr. Grey is saying here is that we will all die eventually, regardless of who we are, no matter how rich, how powerful or how beautiful.  All of these paths will eventually lead to the grave.  Wow, let me apologize for how serious this just got and ask you to please be patient as we reach the part that will hopefully lift your now saddened spirits.

            Later on in the poem we reach the stanza where in the author discusses how the poet is honoring the common people, or the people that are usually that fade from memory when they die.  People that did not have any claims to fame.  In lines 93-96 he states,

“For thee, who mindful of the unhonoured dead,

Dost in these lines their artless tale relate;

If chance, by lonely contemplation lead,

Some kindred spirit shall inquire thy fate.”

The author refers to himself as “thee” in this part, so he states, he is aware of all the “unhonoured” dead and says that he is writing about them in this poem (their artless tale relate). So while most of the world may forget about these people, the author has taken time to remember all these people.

            The last important stanza is the last stanza itself, where Grey makes his most powerful point in my opinion.  In the last stanza he states,

“No farther seek his merits to disclose,

Or draw his frailties from their dread abode,

(There they alike in trembling hope repose)

The bosom of his Father and His God.”

Basically what he is saying here is when someone passes onto death, no one should further question what they accomplishments, their failures or weaknesses because in death they are all the same. Grey states here that when we die all we wish is to be embraced by God.  That is the hope of all people; powerful, wealthy, even down to the most common of people.  So in death, we are all the same, all wishing for eternal life.  Perhaps this is why earlier Grey had to bring up that we all die, so basically he could come back at the end and say, fear not, for when we die, we will all be judged the same, so do not worry what you have or have not accomplished in your life, we will all find peace in life after death.  So who is this poem for then? Everyone.  To everyone who has passed on and is trying to find peace, with this poem they have not been forgotten.  This poem commemorates all lives because in the eyes of Grey, all of them were worth something.