The boast of heraldry,1 the pomp of power, The paths of glory lead but to the grave. Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault, The pealing anthem swells the note of praise. Can storied urn,3 or animated bust,4 Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid Some Heart once pregnant with celestial fire; But knowledge to their eyes her ample page, And froze the genial current of the soul. 1 Heraldry, noble rank, "blue blood." 2 Fretted, ornamented with fret work. 3 Storied urn, the urn containing the ashes of the dead, storied or distinguished by tales of their greatness. 4 Animated bust, bust of marble so perfect as to seem alive. 5 Filled with heavenly ambition. Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air. Some village Hampden,1 that, with dauntless breast, The little tyrant of his fields withstood, 55 Some mute inglorious Milton 2 here may rest, The applause of listening senates to command, Their lot forbade; nor circumscribed alone Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined: Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne, And shut the gates of mercy on mankind, The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide, 1 Hampden, a noted English statesman; Village Hampden, a villager with enough ability to have become a Hampden under favorable circumstances. 2 Milton, the great Puritan poet of England. 3 Cromwell, the great Puritan leader, who controlled the destinies of the nation between the reign of Charles I and that of Charles II. 4 Ingenuous, honest, simple. 65 70 Or heap the shrine of luxury and pride With incense kindled at the Muse's1 flame. Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, They kept the noiseless tenor of their way. Yet e'en these bones from insult to protect Implores the passing tribute of a sigh. Their name, their years, spelt by the unlettered The place of fame and elegy supply: And many a holy text around she strews, For who, to dumb forgetfulness a prey, This pleasing anxious being e'er resigned, On some fond breast the parting soul relies, 1 Muse, the goddess of poetry. 2 Sequestered, separated, secluded. For thee, who, mindful of the unhonored dead, Haply some hoary-headed swain may say, "There at the foot of yonder nodding beech, "Hard by yon wood, now smiling as in scorn, Muttering his wayward fancies would he rove, Now drooping, woeful wan, like one forlorn, Or crazed with care, or crossed in hopeless love. "One morn I missed him on the customed hill, Along the heath, and near his favorite tree; Another came; nor yet beside the rill, Nor up the lawn, nor at the wood was he: "The next, with dirges due in sad array Slow through the churchway path we saw him borne: 95 100 105 110 Approach and read (for thou can'st read) the lay 115 Graved on the stone beneath yon aged thorn." 120 125 THE EPITAPH Here rests his head upon the lap of earth Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere, He gained from heaven ('twas all he wished) a No farther seek his merits to disclose, Or draw his frailties from their dread abode (There they alike in trembling hope repose) The bosom of his Father and his God: THOMAS GRAY. QUESTIONS FOR STUDY Try to draw in words or with pencil, or both, the picture of the first stanza. Stanza 3. Why does the poet call the owl moping? What do they mean? Point out in the poem all the expressions you have ever heard or read quoted. |