ROMANTICISM AND REMEMBERING

Abstract

This article looks at the celebrated poem Elegy in a CountryChurchyard (1751) by Thomas Gray, and links it to the place of itsinspiration, Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire. The development ofEnglish churchyard memorials is considered, followed by a briefdiscussion of the Graveyard School of poetry, which consideredthemes of mortality and melancholy set in the context of burialgrounds. This formed a strand of proto-romanticism and wasinfluential across Europe. The poem is then analysed in terms of itsdiscussion of rural approaches to death and remembrance. A surveyof mid-18th century churchyard memorials at Stoke Poges is thenprovided, and their imagery discussed: most of these post-date thepublication of the poem. Thomas Gray died in 1771 and was buriedin the tomb of his mother and aunt. He subsequently received amemorial in Westminster Abbey. A later owner of Stoke Park, themanor house of the estate, John Penn, was eager to commemoratethe poet. He commissioned the celebrated architect James Wyatt todesign a memorial which would be visible from the main house.This was erected in 1799, and consisted of a sarcophagus raised on a tall base, the sides of which were inscribed with extracts fromthe Elegy. This was a highly unusual form of parkland memorialcelebrating a poet and his best-known work, which has subsequentlybecome one of the best-known verses in the English language.There is irony in that the poem is a discussion of rural humilityand yet was celebrated through an imposing monument, raisedby an extremely wealthy owner as a feature in his private park.