Focus on Low Culture in "Elegy"

In the first half of "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard", I was really gripped by the way that Gray focused on low culture and centralized it as his primary subject. It's a really cool transition to see: previous periods focused more on high-status people and activities, but this poem focuses on the beauty of simplicity. I liked that the first person mentioned in this piece was a tradesman, "The plowman homeward plods his weary way" (3).

The poem goes on to describe the beauty of the natural scenery. There is a somewhat pastoral element about this poem in the way that the setting is described as nearly paradise-like. There is a beautiful picture of nature and man-made constructs being brought together in the mention of the "ivy-mantled tower" (9). A tower, which could represent wealth and high social status, is being overtaken by ivy, a representation of the low culture who work the land. There is another mixing that takes place later in the line, "The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep" (16). I'm not completely sure I understand this line, but I thought it to be something along the lines of the uneducated people being connected to the accomplishment of civilization. They were the founders of a village or some sophistication, even without education or high social status.

The next stanza gives power to the common person, showing the ways that nature and the land come under the power and authority of those who work it. Gray writes, "Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield" (24), showing that there are different forms of power that do not come with wealth or social standing.

My favorite part was when Gray brings us all to a common ground, saying that "The paths of glory lead but to the grave" (36). No one escapes the power of death, regardless of the things they buy, earn, or accomplish in this life. No matter our social status we are all overtaken by death. The grave doesn't notice what kind of clothes we're wearing or how many people knew us in our lives. Everyone is equal in this way.