Lesson 5 ol1oins & Gray Introduction The Precirsors of Romantic Revival or The Transitional Pot; or Pre-Remantic Poets with

special reference to Gray and Collins.

The eighteenth century was a time when neoclassicism reigned supreme and romantic tendencies appeared to be dormant. It was, a time when the English people kept their emotions under restraint and reason and imagiflation and enthusiasm kept on a tight rein. They looked away from the mystery, the strangeness and wonder of life as though it did not exist. Their rationalistic approach to life created is prose that was clear and poetry that was very much of this world. Hence was this century usually known as the century of Prose and reason.

Importance was given to keeping strictly to the bounds of decorum. It had a finer educated feeling for symmetry, pattern and form. The best writers of this age, therefore, always tried to be clear in thought and simple in style.

Although the classical tendency predominated in the first fifty years, it was a declining composed for the aristocratic circle and especially for the new upper middle class.

In the later years of the eighteenth century. the younger poets, often referred to as the minor poets, broke away from the School of Dryden and Pope. It was not, however, a clear breaking away from the traditional influences but a merging of the neo-classical past and the romantic future. Those eighteenth century poets who show traits associated with romanticism
www.onlinecampus.net.in Page 1 of 8

www.msuonline.net.in

and conventional poetry are known as transitional poets or the precursours of the Romantic Revival.

The romantic qualities of the poetry of these transitional poets are as follows: 1. The do not believe in being bound to rules an conventions. On the other hand, they give free play to individual poetic inspiration. Gray for instance, uses a variety of stanza forms in his poetry and avoikd the heroic couplet which was considered the best of poetic mode in that period. Thus he helped restore stanza variety to English poetry.

2. The intellectual content and treatment of the older from of poetry gives way to poetry charged with passion. emotion and imagination. They naturally return to the lyric. Grays Elegy treats nobles sentiments in simple lyric strain. Collins, poems have a singing quality about them. Swinburne also points out to his purity of music and clarity of style in the poetry of Collins.

3. They share a fascination for the wild, the supernatural, and the fantastic. The world, for them, was filled with a sense of wonder and their interest was not confined to terrestrial bounds but sought to explore beyond them. Collins was greatly intrigued by the highly romantic world of shadows am the supernatural. Eg.his Ode on the Popular Supersitions of the Highland

4. The world of Nature gained new proportions in the hands of these poets. Neoclassic poetry, especially town poetry. had grossly neglected Nature. They were not interested in society and manners.

Rural life and the beauty of Nature took a predominant role in the poetry of these transitional poets. Grays Elegy has an entirely rural background.

5. Emphasis is placed more on the individual than on society as a whole. It displays a more liberal spirit, a greater concern for the oppressed and the www.onlinecampus.net.in Page 2 of 8 www.msuonline.net.in

poor and for individualism in poetry. They are, therefore, more subjective. Gray uses the pastoral mode in his elegy. Yet, he strikes a personal note in the last part of his poem. The poetry of Collins is also an outpouring of deepfelt emotions, although there is also much of the older school weighing upon him.

6. Dryden and Pope admired the Renaissance and discarded the Middle Ages as barbadining rous. But these poets show a greater interestin the Middle Ages as do Gray and Collins, who showed a curiosity about primitive English Poetry.

7. Man was held to be naturally good with an instance for right conduct called moral sense. Nature is also good. When man lives closer to nature and God, he feels and acts benevolently. Such a viewpoint is found in the essays o Addison and Steele, in the fiction of Richardson and in the poetry of Thompson, Cowper and Collins.

8. A mood of melancholy permeated most of the poetry written at this time. It as recitative verse brooding over questions of morality and immorality. Authors like Young, Robert Blair and Gray belong to this Graveyard School of poetry.

9. Old literary forms were revived, and new ones created. The heroic couplet lost its charm and was given up. The Spenserian Stanza, the sonnet, the ballad form and the odes were revived,

The transitional poets paved the way for the true Romantics like Wordsworth and Keats. They introduced variety and en emotional quality absent in neoclassical verse and although they were not totally free from the old school of poetry, they were the trail brazers into the world of Romanticism.

Life and Works of Thomas Gray

www.onlinecampus.net.in Page 3 of 8

www.msuonline.net.in

Thomas Gray (1716-71) was born on 26 December 1716. He studied at Eton here he became friends with Horace Walpie, son of the Prime Minister, Richard West and Thomas Ashton. He left Eton for Cambridge in 1734. After leiving Cambridge, Gray and Walpole travelled in France and Italy for about three years.

After returning from the Continent. Gray made his home at Cambridge, where he spent most of his remaining years. He travelled to Scotland and to various other parts of England.

He became known as a great poet and was offered the post of poet Laureate in 1757 but he humbly declined. Gray paid many visits to Stoke Poges in Buckinghamshire, where his mother had settled with his widowed sister. It was here, in the churchyard of St. Giles, that Gray as inspired to write the famous Elegy.

Gray suffered from attacks of gout, a disease he l ad inherited from his fahter. His end came suddenly. While at dinner in the College Hall, he was seized with severe illness. He died six days later, on July 30,1771.

His first poem was written in 1742. An Elegy written in a Country churchyard published in 1750 brought him fame. It was again published in Six Poems (1753) followed by Odes of 1757. which include the Progress of Poesy and The Bard. His historical and scholarly studies are reflected in The Fatal Sisters and The Descent of Odin. The collection of his letters is extremely interesting.

Elegy The Elegy, in English poetry. is an expression of regret using pastoral conventions. The pastoral element in poetry springs from the Areadiaus who were intensely devoted to God and led. a pure life. The Areadian theme embodied the glory of the countryside in the songs.
www.onlinecampus.net.in Page 4 of 8

www.msuonline.net.in

In English poetry. the pastoral convention was adopted by the elegiac poets. The poets expressed deep regret either at the passing away of an individual or a way of life. Adonais is a poem by Shelley on the death of Keats. Grays Elegy illustrates the latter theme although it is said that the last nine stanzas of his poem were inspired by the death of his friend, Richard West, The Elegy has certain conventions. Usually, the poet imagines himself to be a shepherd mourning the death of another shepherd. The poem should have a glorified description of their life against the background of nature. A procession of mourners is presented. The poem ends on a note of relief, not sadness. Sometimes digressions are used for the sake of variety.

In a narrow sense, an elegy is a song of lamentation for the dead. According to Coleridge, the elegiac form of poetry is natural to the reflective mind. He says that, broadly speaking, the elegy can treat any subject, if it does so with reference to the poet himself.

Elegy written in a Country Churchyard Critical Summary The eighteenth century gave rise to what is called the Graveyard school of poetry to which poets like Young (Night Thoughts) and Robert Blair (The Grave) and Gray belong. It is meditative poetry brooding over personal sorrow, often with contemplation on life, death and immortality. Naturally, there is an underlying tone of gldorn or melancholy.

It is in this tradition of graveyard poetry that Gray fashions his most popular Elegy. The poem appropriately begins with a detailed description of a landscape. He creates an atmosphere of quietness and gloom, ideal for reflection.

www.onlinecampus.net.in

Page 5 of 8

www.msuonline.net.in

The first three stanzas describe the day coming to a close, the evening shadows merging with those of the night. The farmer returns home after a hard days work. A long line of cattle slowly move homeward.

The curfew sounds the death of day. It is dark and still. Only the distant sound of the bettle or the tinkling bell sounds from sleeping sheep or cows can be heard. An occasional hooting of the owl also shatters the quietness of the night.

The poet shifts with ease from his brooding thoughts of the land to the country church- yard. The churchyard possibly refers to that of Stoke Poges Grays uncle was buried there and his mother came to settle in the village of Stock Poge. The churchyard itself was one of Grays favourite haunts.

The Epitaph neatly identifies the poet with he common country folk he loved and defended. This also re-establishes continuity temporarily broken in Stanza 24. He describes himself humbly as a Young ma to fortune and fame unknown but blessed with a good education a kind nature and better still a faithfully friend. The poem ends fittingly with an epitaph.

Gray handles the simple and ow-moving stanza form with great skill. The language of the elegy is harmonious and dignificed Its meter is simple

consisting of iambic feet of five feet. The quartrains have the first and the third, the second and the fourth lines rhyming with each other.

The whole poem gives a sense of personal emotion universalized by form and it expresses sentiments to which every heart returns and echo

Features of the Pastoral Elegy in Crays Elegy.

www.onlinecampus.net.in

Page 6 of 8

www.msuonline.net.in

a) It was the Arcacdian theme of celebrating the countryside. The poem exalts the simple, quiet and useful lives of the people of Stoke Poges.. The opening stanzas depict the scenic beauty of the countryside side which forms the background of the poem.

b) The theme of the passing away of a life style is used. Hence the poet praises the simple annals of the poor: He is for useful toll a life far from the madding crowds ignoble strife, a balanced and a sober life, if they did not for lack of talents, but owing to lack of opportunity.

c) It was conventional to express prejudices or strong feeling on issues not related to the person bemourned. For instance. in Lycidas Miltons invective against the clergy is a digression cleverly introduced. Gray nostalgically describes the simple lives of the people in Stock Poges. but does not digress in his scron for the boast of heraldry and the pomp of power. Gray does not use tile Elegy as a vehicle of attack but as a means to highlight the attractions of country life.

d) Towards the end of the poem. a swain or a shepherd is introduced. He relates a description of the poet as a young man who died and was buried there.

e) The poem was published in I 5O, although it was begun as early as 1742. It was during these years that he lost his go d friend Richard West. The last Stanza that introduces a personal note by the poet also reflects indirectly his reflections on his personal loss. So, one may safely say that the elegy is also about the deep regret expressed on the passing away of an individual

Questions: 1) Discuss Grays Elegy writer in a country churchyard as an elegy. 2) What features of transitional poetry do you find in Grays Elegy? (Use points from Introduction on Transitional poets)
www.onlinecampus.net.in Page 7 of 8

www.msuonline.net.in

www.onlinecampus.net.in

Page 8 of 8

www.msuonline.net.in