26 pages • 52 minutes read
Thomas GrayElegy Written in a Country Churchyard
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1751A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Discussion Starters
1. Reread Stanzas 8-19. What message about death does the speaker convey in these stanzas? How does class and the speaker’s comparisons between classes factor into his message about death?
2. Through its many mentions and descriptions of nature, what idea(s) does the poem suggest about nature?
3. Identify mentions of sound and silence throughout the poem. At what points in the poem does the speaker create a contrast between the two? What meaning(s) does Gray convey through this motif of sound versus silence?
4. If you were to divide the poem into three sections, where would you make divisions? Provide the reasoning behind your choices. What makes each section distinct from the others? What subtitle might you give to each section, and why?
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By Thomas Gray
