Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard 赏析

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard By Thomas Gray (1716-1771)1. Type of Work “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard“ is as the title indicatesan elegy. Such a poem centers on the death of a person or persons and is, therefore, somber in tone. An elegy is lyrical rather than narrativethat is, its primary purpose is to express feelings and insights about its subject rather than to tell a story. Typically, an elegy expresses feelings of loss and sorrow while also praising the deceased and commenting on the meaning of the deceased's time on earth. Gray's poem reflects on the lives of humble and unheralded 未为人所知的 people buried in the cemetery 墓地 of a church.2. Setting （time and place） The time is the mid 1700s, about a decade before the Industrial Revolution began in England. The place is the cemetery of a church. Evidence indicates that the church is St. Giles, in the small town of Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, in southern England. Gray himself is buried in that cemetery. William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, once maintained a manor 领地 house at Stoge Poges.3. Years of Composition and Publication Gray began writing the elegy in 1742, put it aside for a while, and finished it in 1750. Robert Dodsley published the poem in London in 1751. Revised or altered versions of the poem appeared in 1753, 1758, 1768, and 1775. Copies of the various versions are on file in the Thomas Gray Archive at Oxford University. 4. Meter 节拍 and Rhyme 韵律 Scheme Gray wrote the poem in four-line stanzas (quatrains). Each line is in iambic pentameter, meaning the following: 1. Each line has five pairs of syllables for a total of ten syllables. 2. In each pair, the first syllable is unstressed (or unaccented), and the second is stressed (or accented), as in the two lines that open the poem:The CUR few TOLLS the KNELL of PART ing DAY The LOW ing HERD wind SLOW ly O'ER the LEAIn each stanza, the first line rhymes with the third and the second line rhymes with the fourth (abab), as follows: aThe curfew tolls the knell of parting day, bThe lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea, aThe plowman homeward plods his weary way, bAnd leaves the world to darkness and to me. 晚钟响起来一阵阵给白昼报丧， 牛群在草原上迂回，吼声起落， 耕地人累了，回家走，脚步踉跄， 把整个世界给了黄昏与我。5. Stanza Form: Heroic Quatrain 英雄体四行诗 A stanza with the above-mentioned characteristics four lines, iambic pentameter, and an abab rhyme scheme is often referred to as a heroic quatrain. (Quatrain is derived from the Latin word quattuor, meaning four.) William Shakespeare and John Dryden had earlier used this stanza form. After Gray's poem became famous, writers and critics also began referring to the heroic quatrain as an elegiac stanza.6. Complete Poem With Explanatory Notes Stanza 1 1. The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, 2. The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea, 3. The plowman homeward plods his weary way, 4. And leaves the world to darkness and to me. Notes (1) Curfew: ringing bell in the evening that reminded people in English towns of Grays time to put out fires and go to bed. (2) Knell: mournful sound. (3) Parting day: day's end; dying day; twilight; dusk. (4) Lowing: mooing. (5) O'er: contraction for over. (6) Lea: meadow. Stanza 2 5. Now fades the glimm'ring landscape on the sight, 6. And all the air a solemn stillness holds, 7.Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, 8. And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds. Notes(1) Line 5: The landscape becomes less and less visible. (2) Sight . . . solemn stillness . . . save: alliteration. (3) Save: except. (4) Beetle: winged insect that occurs in more than 350,000 varieties. One type is the firefly, or lightning bug. (5) Wheels: verb meaning flies in circles. (6) Droning: humming; buzzing; monotonous sound. (7) Drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds: This clause apparently refers to the gentle sounds made by a bell around the neck of a castrated male sheep that leads other sheep. A castrated male sheep is called a wether. Such a sheep with a bell around its neck is called a bellwether. Folds is a noun referring to flocks of sheep. (8) Tinklings: onomatopoeia. Stanza 3 9. Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tow'r 10. The moping owl does to the moon complain 11. Of such, as wand'ring near her secret bow'r, 12. Molest her ancient solitary reign. Notes(1) Save: except. (2) Yonder: distant; remote. (3) Ivy-mantled: cloaked, dressed, or adorned with ivy. (4) Moping: gloomy; grumbling. (5) Of such: of anything or anybody. (6) Bow'r: bower, an enclosure surrounded by plant growthin this case, ivy. (7) Molest her ancient solitary reign: bother the owl while it keeps watch over the churchyard and countryside. (8) Her ancient solitary rein: metaphor comparing the owl to a queen. Stanza 4 13. Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, 14. Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap, 15. Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, 16. The rude