What little he wrote bears witness to the scholarship, refinement, and depth of feeling of the recluse. His "Elegy," meditated in Stoke Pogis churchyard near his mother's home, where he spent the summer, is probably the most thoroughly English poem ever written. It was begun in 1742 and finished in 1750; during the interval it was polished and revised so effectively that not a word can be altered without detracting from its symmetry and splendor. The dignity of the classic spirit and the wistful grace of Romanticism are both apparent, but the keynote is quiet, simple love of everyday life tinged with moral reflection, the note sounded again and again in English poetry and prose. THE MAN 1. What was Gray's education; did he travel? 2. What was his nature? 3. How did he spend his life? 4. What was the character of the age in which he lived? 5. What influence did this period have upon Gray? 6. In what period would he have been more active? 7. How did he show national tendencies in his work? "ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD" 1. Select stanzas representative of the Romantic spirit. 2. Select stanzas that are Classic in tone. 3. Point out the ideas or phrases in each which lead you to make the classification. 4. Sketch roughly on separate sheets of paper the outlines of the pictures in each stanza. 5. Compare the pictures in the poem with those in Milton's "L'Allegro" and "Il Penseroso," IX, 110. 6. Compare the poem also with Goldsmith's "Deserted Village," VI, 94. 7. What phrases or passages impress you as being especially English in tone? Why? 8. What changes would you expect to find in a modern English village neighborhood? 9. Where do you observe traces of Gray's scholarship? 10. Select the best stanzas and explain their superiority. 11. Do any lines suggest Gray's sensitive dislike of the spirit of his times and the melancholy reserve in his nature? Which lines? FOR REFERENCE "Life of Gray."--MASON. "Life of Gray" ("English Men of Letters").--GOSSE. "Gray and his Friends."--TOVEY. "Essays."--LOWELL. "Letters."--Ed. RIDEOUT. EDMUND BURKE (1729-1797) Edmund Burke was a native of Dublin, Ireland. After a careful preparatory training, he entered Trinity College, Dublin, where he showed marked ability in eloquence, history, poetry, and philosophy. After receiving his master's degree, he went to England, with the intention of becoming a barrister, but found the profession not to his taste. He accordingly spent the next six years making the tour of Great Britain and the Continent, and forming the acquaintance of the leading literary men. The first years after his return to England were devoted to literary work, resulting in two philosophical essays, "Vindication of Natural Society," and "The Sublime and Beautiful." He also collaborated with his cousin William Burke in "An Account of the European Settlements in America."