Thomas Gray (1716-1771) offers in his great poem not only a powerful reflection on mortality but a celebration of the common man.
No wonder the elegy provided Burns with inspiration for a major work of his own, The Cotter's Saturday Night. Here are some of Gray's verses.
ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness, and to me.
Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds.
Beneath those rugged elms, that ewe-tree's shade,
Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap,
Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,
The rude Forefathers of the hamlet sleep.
Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
Not Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
The short and simple annals of the Poor.
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Awaits alike th' inevitable hour: -
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
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