11

"ELEGY

SUPPOSED TO BE WRITTEN IN A

COUNTRY CHURCH YARD."

BY GRAY.

THIS is one of the most popular poems that we know of; it pleases all ranks and all ages: and it is therefore a proper piece to begin with.

This poem is called an Elegy, because the subject of it is melancholy, It describes the appearance of a country churchyard on a summer's even- . ing, and expresses the thoughts that arose in the mind of the poet, when he reflected upon the objects which he saw before him. He marks the hour, by mentioning the tolling of the cur

few or evening bell-the return of the ploughman and his cattle from their work, and the approach of darkness.

1.

"The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

The curfew. When William Duke of Normandy conquered England, about seven hundred and fifty years ago, he obliged all the people to retire to their houses and put out their fires at eight o'clock in the evening, to prevent them from assembling in the night to form schemes against his government. A bell was therefore rung at that hour to warn the people to cover their fires.** Cover in French is

*This circumstance is denied by Andrews, in his

history of England.

couvre-and fire in French is feu, couvre-feu, which by leaving out some of the letters becomes corfeu or curfew.

Knell. A church bell rung at the death of any person; it is sometimes called a passing bell.

Parting. Shortened from departing. The words departing this life are sometimes used instead of dying. The tolling of the curfew may then be considered as a warning of the departure of the day.

Wind. To wind means properly to move round. When a road is not straight, but turns in different directions without sharp corners (angles), it is said to wind, though it does not form a circle, or move quite round. It is here said the herd wind; we

C

should say in common conversation, the herd winds, because the herd means one herd; but as there are many cattle in a herd, it is allowable to use the verb wind in the plural number; and the plural raises the idea of a scattered herd-the singular number raises the idea of a drove. An observing pupil may ask why winds might not as well have been used in the singular number. The s is omitted because it would not sound agreeably with the s at the beginning of the next word, slowly.

Lea.-Ground that is not ploughed, but that is covered with grass, the same as lay. The next stanza or division of the poem continues to describe evening, the landscape begins to disappear for want of light. The air

is still or quiet, nothing but the hum of the beetle and the tinkling of the sheep bells are heard.

2.

"Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,

And all the air a solemn stillness holds, Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,

And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds;

The landscape or prospect is said to "glimmer;" that is, to shine faintly.

Solemn.-The word solemn means awful: it originally meant what happened but once a year.

Observe, that it is a solemn stillness which holds the air, and not the air which holds a solemn stillness. Droning beetle wheels his flight; -that is, flies in circles. "Droning,"