An elegy is a poem that reflects upon death. It is a very good way for people to release stress. It makes others think. An elegy to some people, is very depressing to read. Most of the time it tells the truth about a side of a persons life, that no one knows about. An elegy could be a real breath taker, if taken the right way.
There are many well known elegy authors. One of them is Thomas Gray. Gray wrote the elegy ‘Written in a Country Churchyard.’ ; In Gray’s poem, he compares the life of a human with a day. The morning would be the person when they were young. High noon would be around middle age.
The evening would be when they are elderly. For the obstacles people have to go through in their life, he puts in wind, rain, and so on to reflect upon the difficult tasks one faces. Thomas Gray wrote another poem called ‘The curse upon Edward.’ ; In this poem, Gray does not compare and contrast. He talks about death up front.
He says that ‘The shrieks of death, throw’ Berkley’s roof that ring.’ ; (Gray. 821) Gray has a way of writing lines in difficult ways, that you could have used six words to explain the sentence. In his last poem ‘The Progress of Poesy,’ ; Gray has a different way of explaining his point of view. In this particular poem he pertains to life as a drink. He wants the reader to get a mental picture of a human, drinking life like a glass of tea. Grays point, is the a person has total control of what they do, and what a person does not do.
The Essay on Robert Gray Poem- Old House And Late Ferry
In Robert Grays poems, he uses language to capture human experiences. In two of his poems; old house and late ferry, gray has effectively captured human experiences by his varies poetic languages and through insight and feeling. Throughout both texts late ferry and old house, grays main message in the poems, with his critical analysis, is the destruction of nature by mankind. In old house, gray ...
If one makes a mistake, just shake it off and start over again. Two other well known elegy authors, are Burton Raffel, and Charles W. Kennedy. Raffel translated the poem ‘The Seafarer’; and Kennedy ‘The Wanderer.’ ; Raffel used the sea to tell his tale.
an example of how Raffel use the sea is ‘OF smashing surf when I sweated in the cold, Of am anxious watch, punched in the bow, As it dashed under cliffs, My feet were cast, In Icy bands, Bound with frost. (Raffel. 17) In Kennedy’s poem ‘The Wanderer’; , he just tells the story how it happens. He does not compare it to some kind experience he has had in the past. An example of his work is ‘Oft when the day broke, oft at the dawning, Lonely and wrenched I wailed my woe.
No man is living, no comrade left, To whom I dare fully unlock my heart.’ ; (Kennedy. 57) Kennedy and Raffel write about the same things. They do not use the same tactics the other one uses, but they each can get their point across. One may think Raffel can tell his story cleaner, smoother than Kennedy. Kennedy just tells you the story the way it is, one might not like it told that way.
Throughout the years, ther has been a number of great elegy authors. They are all excellent. It takes a well educated mind to come up with some of the ideas they get, and then be able to put it on paper like it was one second nature. Back in time, the elegy was the ony type poem written, therefore everyone who wrote had to write an elegy, that is why there are so many good one out there in today’s time. Even though an elegy talks about death, I still enjoy reading a good elegy every once and a while.
Ward 3 WORKS CITIEDGray, Thomas. American Poetry. United States, 1951. 821 The Seafarer. Prentice Hall Inc.
17 The Wanderer. Prentice Hall Inc. 17.
