Though the title is simple and direct, Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is a masterfully and intricately constructed poem. The tone produced through the structure, meter, and sound values of the poem add multidimensionality to the experience of the reader. Written in iambic pentameter, and utilizing drawn-out sound values, “Elegy” evokes a purposeful feeling, especially when read aloud. Appropriate for a country churchyard, the structure brings the reader to a wistful, thoughtful, meditative place. The combination of meter and sound value create a melancholic and somber atmosphere. The sound values keep the reader suspended in a liminal space, contemplating the lives and fates of those buried in the churchyard.
Thomas Gray wrote “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” in heroic quatrains, or four line stanzas of iambic pentameter with an abab rhyme scheme. Structuring the poem in heroic quatrains gives the poem a steady pattern; consistent and inexorable like a ticking clock. The effect of the rhyme scheme limits Gray to words that fit into matching sound values. Sound value here means the length of the word when spoken, particularly the drawn out nature of certain vowel and consonant sounds. Though several rhymes seem forced when read aloud in a modern American accent, it is important to recognize that Gray chose words that fit the rhyme scheme in his time. Gray’s words choices shape the tone of the poem; effective for the majority of readers the first time through.
In the first stanza, significant sounds are easily identifiable. The sound values of particular words in the poem cannot be chopped off, thus they linger in the mouth and air. Words from the first stanza such as “knell,”(1) “lowing,”(2) “lea,”(2) “way,”(3) “leaves,”(4) and “darkness,”(4) possess vowel sounds or consonant endings that are drawn out when spoken. The ‘el’ sounds in “knell”(1) and “lowing,”(2) as well as the ‘lee’ in “lea”(2) and “leaves,”(4) have elongated sound values that flow smoothly into the ‘ay’ and ‘s’ sounds in “way,”(3) “leaves,”(4) and “darkness”(4). The first stanza sets the tone for the entire poem, acclimating the reader to the smooth language.
The consonance of the second stanza creates a pervasive ‘s’ or ‘z’ sound, as if the narrator were ‘shh-ing’ someone. Read aloud, the words require focus, which in turn slows the speed of the poem. The second line of the second stanza reads: “And all the air a solemn stillness holds”(6). The first half of the line employs alliterative use of the ‘a’ sound, which requires a speaker to keep their mouth open in an extended exhalation of tone. The line morphs into alliterative ‘s’ sounds with “solemn stillness”(6) and the ‘ds’ of “holds”(6). Neither sound is conducive to abrupt endings. The techniques of alliteration and consonance shape the poem and create a flowing yet dense atmosphere, one akin to the feeling of fog. The dense atmosphere continues throughout the poem, the ‘s’ and ‘I’ word endings connecting lines with long sound values. Stanza twenty-one combines the effect of sound values with the irony of unlettered carvers being the muses of the churchyard, muses who could not write flowery elegies for the dead:
Their name, their years, spelt by th’ unlettered muse,
The place of fame and elegy supply:
And many a holy text around she strews,
That teach the rustic moralist to die.
The tombstones in the poem’s churchyard are inscribed simply, the names and dates carved by someone clearly less than proficient with letters. The passage serves as a reminder that no matter how important one was in life, in death one has no need of fancy elegies.
Continuing in the vein of what the dead need or not, stanza twenty-two employs ‘l’ sound alliteration in its last line. The narrator questions if the dead fear being forgotten, asking if they, “…cast a longing ling’ring look behind?”(88), producing an onomatopoeic effect of longing and lingering in the mouth of the reader. The sounds in, “longing ling’ring look,”(88) result in a slowed pace of speech in order for the speaker to avoid stumbling over the passage. A modern reader may very well stumble on a cold read through, not just because of the frequent alliteration but because of unfamiliar rhymes. As previously mentioned, there are four instances of rhymes that do not work with a modern American accent.
The four pairs of rhymes that seem out of place to a modern American reader include: “toil”(29) and “smile”(31) from stanza eight, “withstood”(58) and “blood”(60) from stanza fifteen, “beech”(101) and “stretch”(103) from stanza twenty-six, and “rove”(106) and “love”(108) from stanza twenty-seven. Though the rhymes that do not work in an American accent might jar the reader out of the solemn, foggy, contemplative mood of the poem, with a British accent they flow more smoothly. Stanza twenty-six is the narrator's idea of what a passerby might say about him, the message coming across even without the end rhymes sounding correct the first time through:
There at the foot of yonder nodding beech
That wreathes its old fantastic roots so high,
His listless length at noontide would he stretch,
And pore upon the brook that babbles by.
(101-104)
The passage conveys the tone and message without dependence on rhyme, but rather on the effect of burbling alliteration. The alliteration of “listless length,”(103) and “brook that babbles by,”(104) help the reader picture the scene. The words stretch and flow trippingly off the tongue here, just as the narrator and the stream he watches do. The effectiveness of the poem is not dependent on the rhyme enforced by the structure, but rather enhanced by it.
Thomas Gray combines clever use of sound values with the structure of heroic quatrains to successfully communicate the tone and tenor of the poem. The way the words feel in the speaker’s mouth when read aloud is an essential component of the poem. “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is an intricate and complex poem, which can transport a reader to the same emotional and mental plane as the narrator.
Works Cited
Gray, Thomas. "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard." 1751. The Broadview Anthology of British Literature. Ed. Joseph Black. Concise 2nd ed. Vol. A. Toronto: Broadview, 2011. 1517-19. Print.
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