Question

write a short note on the use of imagery in the poem Elegy written in a country churchyard

Answer 1

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is a poem by Thomas Gray, completed in 1750 and first published in 1751. ... The poem argues that the remembrance can be good and bad, and the narrator finds comfort in pondering the lives of the obscure rustics buried in the churchyard.

Answer 2

Answer:

The poem is set in a rural cemetery, sometimes known as a country graveyard, at dusk. Additionally, the environment's gloominess fits the subject matter well.

Explanation:

The speaker is discussing the unknowable. He is thinking about death and what happens to people once they pass away.

Of all, no one can truly predict what will occur after death, therefore the darkness may represent the enigma of what occurs after death.

• When the speaker claims that the church bell "tolls the knell" of the day in the first line, he is using personification. The poet is suggesting that the bell that chimes at sundown is honouring the death of the day, as though the day were a real person. When a person passes away, you ring a church bell to commemorate their passing; this is known as a "death knell."
• When he speaks of the "solemn quiet" of the sight at sunset, the speaker employs alliteration, or the repeating of consonant sounds. The repeating S sound, often referred to as sibilance, sounds like a kind of "shushing"; perhaps the speaker is trying to emphasise the atmosphere's stillness, calmness, and silence.
• When he claims that the deceased villagers are just "sleeping" under the shade of the tree, the speaker is using a metaphor. This is actually a euphemism, which is a nice way to describe something to lessen its harsh reality (for example, at a fancy meal, saying "excusing yourself for a moment" rather than "I need to go potty now"). Why does Gray employ a euphemism in this situation? Perhaps he prefers to conceive of these villagers as merely "sleeping" or resting pleasantly rather than withering away beneath because he is terrified of death and his own mortality.
• The speaker used a metaphor when he compares those who are nice but go unnoticed to "gems" concealed in deep caverns beneath the sea.