Gray, Thomas

He was the greatest poet of the Transition period. He combined the main features of both
groups: the elegiac and the graveyard poet's group and the sensibility and awareness of
nature's group. He made a bridge between the old classical traditions and the new pre-
romantic values. Gray was very slow at writing his poems.
The best-known and most popular of his works is EIegy Written in a Country
Churchyard, which took him seven years and was probably inspired by the death of his
friend Richard West. The poem can be divided into threemoments:
1) Stanzas 1-11: in a small country churchyard, at the end of the day, the sight of the
tombs called up in the poet's mind images humble country life. These images, rich in
symbolic elements, led Gray to meditate on death and its levelling power;
2) Stanzas 12-20: Gray compared the lot poor people with the great careers. But he also
considered how their poverty also prevented them from committing crimes and felling
victims to luxury, pride and corruption. Here there is a contrast between the simple
funerals of the poor and the pompous exequies of the great;

3) Stanzas 21-32: the poem ends with the supposed death of the author, his burial in the
same churchyard and the epitaph on his tomb. The Elegy is considered a "transition
poem, because it is classical in form and early romantic in content.

CIassicaI eIements:
1) use of abstract personification;
2) universality of themes;
3) idyllic view of country life;
4)excessive time required to polish each stanza;
5)influences of poetic classic such as Dante and Lucretius.

EarIy Romantic eIements:
1) setting: a country churchyard;
2) time of day: twilight;
3) theme: death;
4) interest in and sympathy for poor, humble people;
5) nature seen as a reality made up of earth, trees and animals.

The Elegy became very popular in taly where it inspired Foscolo's Sepolcri. But Foscolo
concentrated on the function of the grave as a link between the living and the dead, as
symbol of glory and a source of poetry and inspiration. This is why he went on to exalt the
importance of great men's tombs in Santa Croce and their power of exciting a spirit of
emulation in posterity. Foscolo in fact believed in a life that continued after death through
the memories of the living, while Gray lamented the hopeless transience of man and
things.













London
Wllllam 8lake
1raduzlone LeLLerale
l wander Lhro' each charLer'd sLreeL
Ml agglro per ognl sLrada a nolo
near where Lhe charLer'd 1hames does flow
vlclno a dove ll 1amlgl a nolo scorre
And mark ln every face l meeL
e scorgo ln ognl volLo che lnconLro
Marks of weakness marks of woe
segnl dl debolezza segnl dl dolore
ln every cry of every Man
ln ognl grldo dl ognl uomo
ln every lnfanL's cry of fear
ln ognl grldo dl paura dl bamblno
ln every volce ln every ban
ln ognl voce ln ognl dlvleLo
1he mlndforg'd manacles l hear
odo le maneLLe forglaLe dalla menLe
ow Lhe Chlmneysweeper's cry
Come ll grldo dello spazzacamlno
Lvery blacknlng Church appalls
sgomenLa ognl chlesa che sl sporca (che sl annerlsce)
And Lhe hapless Soldler's slgh
ed ll sosplro dl un soldaLo sforLunaLo
8uns ln blood down alace walls
scorre nel sangue glu dale mura del alazzo2

8uL mosL Lhro' mldnlghL sLreeLs l hear Lhro' Lhrough
Ma sopraLLuLLo per le sLrade a mezzanoLLe odo
ow Lhe youLhful arloL's curse
come la maledlzlone dl una glovane prosLlLuLa
8lasLs Lhe newborn lnfanL's Lear
ascluga la lagrlma dl un bamblno neonaLo
And bllghLs wlLh plagues Lhe Marrlage hearse
e rovlna con malaLLle ll carro funebre delle nozze plagues (malaLLle veneree)