What are some neo-classical features in Thomas Grays “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”?
mwestwood Teacher Community / Jr. College eNotes Editor In his “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” Thomas Gray employs the neo-classical use of personification in his poem of strict iambic pentameter with eloquent classical diction. There is a compliance and conformity to the classical form of an elegy as Gray gives his individual estimate of the world, which is, however, a Romantic expression. The pace of iambic pentameter [an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable 5 times–ta dum, ta dum, ta dum, ta dum, ta dum] is dignified, and Gray makes skillful use of monosyllabic words and long vowels in his elegy. The following stanza is an example: Far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife,/Their sober wishes never learned to stray;/Along the cool, sequestered vale of life/They kept the noiseless tenor of their way. Personification is also a neo-classical trait which Gray utilizes: The boast of hearldry, the pomp of power,/And all that beauty, all that wealth e’er gave,/Aw
