Free Thomas Gray Essays and Papers

Elegy Written in a Country Chrchyard Thomas Gray’s Elegy laments the death of life in general while mourning long gone ancestors and exhibiting the transition made by the speaker, from grief and mourning to acceptance and hope. It was written in 1742 and revised to its published form in 1746, and is one of the three highlights of the elegiac form in English literature, the others being Milton’s “Lycidas” and Tennyson’s In Memoriam. It was first published, anonymously, in 1751, under the title

Thomas Gray had a tough childhood. As a young man, he suffered through terrible heartaches. Because of this, Gray turned to writing to ease the pain. Death and its problems were the main topic in most of his poems. As a writer, Thomas Gray inspired other people to think about their emotions and death with his poem, “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.” Thomas Gray’s poetry was called Pre-Romantic poetry which put a focus on nature and the life of common people.1 The subjects of death, suicide

indented. Thomas Gray used a rhyme scheme of AABCCB. The first way that an author can write his poem is by using a point of view that is either from the cat, goldfish, or a separate all together person, the observer. Thomas Gray chose to use the narrator approach. This use is very effective because it gives us the opinion of all of the characters involved. This also gives us a view of the entire story not just one persons perspective. Also the symbolism in this poem is largely effective. Gray doesn't

known elegy authors. One of them is Thomas Gray. Gray wrote the elegy “Written in a Country Churchyard.';In Gray’s poem, he compares the life of a human with a day. The morning would be the person when they were young. High noon would be around middle age. The evening would be when they are elderly. For the obsticles people have to go through in their life, he puts in wind, rain, and so on to reflect upon the difficult tasks one faces. Thomas Gray wrote another poem called “The

(Favourite) Greed is one of the underlying themes found in Thomas Gray's Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat. This greed becomes the ultimate demise of the lead character, Selima the Cat. Mr. Gray uses a few different literary techniques to bring to life the inanimate written words. These techniques along with word choice allow for the possibility of many different interpretations of the text. The general format Mr. Gray follows is seven stanzas of AACBBC form, wherein the A and B lines

nature and the simple life as a retreat from the complications of a society in which humans have become degenerate. Two poems from this era which we have studied, The Thresher’s Labour, by Stephen Duck, and An Elegy Wrote in a Country Churchyard, by Thomas Gray, fit well into this category of literature. The first poem, The Thresher’s Labor, gives a first-hand account of the hard life of a farm worker. Lexico LLC’s Online Dictionary defines the verb “thresh” as: “To beat the stems and husks of grain or

difficult to understand what a writer mean when they write a poem, because you have to get in to a frame of mind that you think the writer was in when they composed the poem. In the Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes, Thomas Gray uses a cat and fish to teach a moral. In the Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes the setting was set in the first stanza. The poem gave you an idea that it took place in a very nice house that had a large china

Formalistic Approach Ode to the Death of a Favorite Cat (Favourite) In Thomas Gray's poem "Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat," we find many examples of the Formalistic Approach. In this poem, we find numerous examples of alliteration, rhyme scheme, puns, and creative word choice.  This poem is very joyful and fun to read because the author is very creative in his choice of words and phrases. In the first stanza, we figure out where this event is taking place or in other words, we find out

A Formalistic Analysis of The Fatal Sisters In “The Fatal Sisters” Thomas Gray has created a monologue pregnant with references to history, geography, and mythology. These reappearing references and allusions enrich the text, as they allow a closer look at the political situation surrounding eleventh century Britain.  The poems’ sixteen stanzas exhibit an ABAB rhyme scheme, which provides for systematic organization and positive aesthetic effects.  Closer examination of the setting, tone, and

carnivalization to describe the "...diversities of speech and voice reflected in its structure" (HCAL 351). Mood and tone are derived from this and can be further amplified through the Formalistic Approach of analysis. My Pre-Critical Response to Thomas Gray's "Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes" is as follows: A cat was playing with a fish in the fish bowl. The cat fell in and then drowned because none cared enough to save her. When I take a second look, details

their own way. For example, an object or a phrase could have a double meaning. A conversation that seems somewhat insignificant could be very important to the meaning and the tone of the entire poem. This is the case in “The Descent of Odin” by Thomas Gray. The poem has several different hidden meanings and messages that might not be visible to the untrained reader. The poem has several interesting aspects to it. The first is the very obvious, over active id of Odin. He is trying to retrieve information

writer, perhaps a humble member of the community like those buried in the cemetery. 32. Thee: Gray himself. 33. Some kindred . . .fate: Gray is wondering what people would say about him if he died. 34. Haply . . . lawn: Here Gray begins to speculate about how people would assess him after he dies. 35. Listless length: His body 36: Pore upon: Gaze upon; look upon. 37. The Epitaph: Here Gray writes his own epitaph (inscription on a tomb).

usually represents those who feel they are not worth anything; and pigeons I personally think are trite birds. “Elegy for Jane” is not the only elegy which incorporates nature into its meaningful lines. “An Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” by Thomas Gray is a similar elegy to “Elegy for Jane” in that it incorporates mother nature and the animal which is most unique to her—the bird: “The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed, The cock's shrill clarion

Romanticism In Literature Romanticism in literature, began around 1750 and lasted until 1870. Different from the classical ways of Neoclassical Age(1660-1798), it relied on imagination, idealization of nature and freedom of thought and expression. Two men who influenced the era with their writings were William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, both English poets of the time. Their edition of “Lyrical Ballads';, stressed the importance of feeling and imagination. Thus in romantic

writings. As stated above, the gothic genre developed as a harsh reaction to the predominant Neoclassic ideals of the time; the emphasis shifted from the whole to the solitary, and from society to nature. The "Graveyard Poets," one of whom is Thomas Gray, are attributed with having ushered in the new philosophy and are often termed "Pre-Romantics." Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" has all the elements of the gothic: graves, overtones of death, a rural setting, and a desire for return

11-20-15 Expanding Poetic Consciousness: Shakespeare, Thomas Gray and Mary Collier From the 16th century to the 18th century, the convention and content of poetry was in flux. It was constantly subject to change as poets developed their own unique understanding of the world around them, highlighting realities of the world that were previously ignored or neglected and reflecting these ideas in their poetry. Shakespeare, Thomas Gray and Mary Collier are examples of poets who challenged

main meanings behind it. Thomas Gray had one of these moments, he sat down in a church yard one evening and wrote to some one of the

act, and speak differently than men.  These differences are so common that they can sometimes be overlooked in everyday life and in reading.  By taking a closer look at poems and stories one can begin to see how frequently gender differences occur.  Thomas Gray’s “The Decent of Odin,” read from a Feminist point of view can reveal many examples of these differences through the use of dialogue. The Marxist Feminist view looks at the relationship between class and gender (HCAL 202).  This poem was written

A Freudian Analysis of The Fatal Sisters When the psychoanalytical approach is applied to Thomas Gray's "The Fatal Sisters,", each of Freud's three main theories are glaringly apparent. A major factor in the poem's psychoanalytical grisly texture is that the poem is sung by the giants at the loom as they weave. The language they use not only reflects upon the characters, but it offers new insight for Freudian analysis. The most obvious example of Freud's theories is phallic and yonic symbolism

A Comparison of Thomas Gray's Elegy (Eulogy) Written in a Country Churchyard and Bryant's Thanatopsis Thomas Gray and William Cullen Bryant both chose to write about nature and death being intertwined. Since Thomas Gray lived in a time of social injustice, he chose to use death to illustrate the problems inherent in a socially stratified society. William Cullen Bryant, on the other hand, lived in a rapidly expanding young nation that cherished the vast amounts of untouched nature and he used