Elegy

Thomas Gray is the first poet who gave me a glimpse into the world of pensive poetry. before that it was only Wordsworth, Keats.. the Romantics. After that it went on to more morose stuff. Gray has balance. Something I need desperately in my life.

Some of my favourite lines from 'Elegy written in a country churchyard'...


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

And a tribute to the man whose lines inspired the name of my blog...

For who, to dumb Forgetfulness a prey,
This pleasing anxious being e'er resign'd,
Left the warm precincts of the cheerful day,
Nor cast one longing ling'ring look behind? :)

...

The Epitaph: (I plead guilty to tweaking the lines a bit)

Here rests his head upon the lap of Earth
A love to fortune and to sanity unknown.
Fair lady frown'd not on its fortuitous birth,
And Melancholy mark'd it for her own.


Large was their bounty, and their souls sincere,
Heav'n did a recompense as largely send:
They gave to Mis'ry all they had, a tear,
They gain'd from Heav'n ('twas not all they wish'd) a friend.


No farther seek their merits to disclose,
Or draw their frailties from their dread abode,
(There they alike in trembling hope repose,)
The bosom of their love they'd once dearly loved.