Themes Of Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard

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Deathly Equal
A Perspective of Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

Life, is commonly not how we act ourselves, but rather how we react to any of the circumstances that we might find ourselves in. Our opinions and perspectives will have more influence over how we conduct ourselves than any sort of fact ever will. The Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard has many underlying themes to go along with the themes that are clearly evident from the surface. Also, we must go to Andrew Dillon and his use of the Latin and the phrase memento mori to recall that all of mankind, no matter the type of life they lived on earth, will eventually die. Thomas Gray does an excellent job of demonstrating this dynamic by showing that death is impartial and that it will claim anybody that it can get its’ grip around. Overall, the three most prevalent themes in Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard are that of class standing, death, and the search for yourself. The first theme encountered in Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, is the idea or concept of class or …show more content…

Whenever there is a story that involves a graveyard, it almost a foregone conclusion that death will factor heavily into the plot of the story. It is no different with this poem. According to Aviya Kushner in an essay for Poetry for Students, “while the other themes are more significant to the overall moral of the story, the theme of death is prevalent in every other facet of the story.” Kushner is absolutely correct in her thoughts here and we should take note of what she says. The other themes are undoubtedly more important than the theme of death, but to ignore the theme of death is to ignore the story entirely. As you can see, the theme of death is present from the beginning to the end of the story, but it is perhaps one of the less meaningful themes that is presented in the Elegy Written in a Country

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