"Elegy Written in a Courtyard" by Thomas Gray
I read the poem and I'm still confused. Maybe I'm missing something?

Which would best describe Gray’s feelings about death?
-Death is incredibly sad.
-Death is not concerned with a man's wealth.
-Death is not something to give much thought to.
-Death is of greater concern to the poor.

Question

"Elegy Written in a Courtyard" by Thomas Gray
I read the poem and I'm still confused. Maybe I'm missing something?

Which would best describe Gray’s feelings about death?
-Death is incredibly sad.
-Death is not concerned with a man's wealth.
-Death is not something to give much thought to.
-Death is of greater concern to the poor.

anonymous · Answer

What are you concerned about the poem?

anonymous · Answer

What type of people are there in the poem, as in character wise?

anonymous · Answer

Oh ok,well it's an elegy. They're aren't really "characters". So I don't really know how to describe that.

anonymous · Answer

oh! okay, but they do talk about a "group" of people. what are the people's lives like?

anonymous · Answer

"Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield," What type of person is this?

anonymous · Answer

Oh, I see what your doing. To make me work it out on my own... Very nice. :) Um my guess would be a farmer, sincle a sickle is a farming tool.

anonymous · Answer

But Knowledge to their eyes her ample page 
Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll; 
Chill Penury repressed their noble rage, 
And froze the genial current of the soul.

What type of person is this? and how can you compare that with a farmer?

anonymous · Answer

>.<

anonymous · Answer

I just read that, luckily enough. The magic of enotes to describe a poem. Thank you though Boblankin! I would appreciate if you kept going though? Just knowing the answer doesn't further my understanding.

anonymous · Answer

so we have a page and we have a farmer right? and they both die.

anonymous · Answer

figure that a page is of a different "class" than a farmer has.

anonymous · Answer

the answer is Death is not concerned with a man's wealth.

anonymous · Answer

Ok, so with some of the.. very very overly decorated stanzas its explaining different types of people?

anonymous · Answer

But that have died of course.

anonymous · Answer

that's my interpretation. also it talks about the aftermath of death, what happens after death for other people.

anonymous · Answer

"Here rests his head upon the lap of earth 
A youth to fortune and to fame unknown."

anonymous · Answer

hey i told the answer well i looked the problem up and found out what he thinks about death and i got the answer here

anonymous · Answer

A youth that had a lot of money, but at the same time, he is unknown. In a sense, death takes away fortune, because death causes a person to lose everything, even money, so death doesn't care about wealth, because all of that money is gone.

anonymous · Answer

because the person is poor and unknown, the person dies, alone, without anyone else caring for him.

anonymous · Answer

sure there was that man, but he didn't get a chance to KNOW him.

anonymous · Answer

And I thank you for the answer! I just appreciate what Boblankin is trying to do, in that so I understand rather than an answer and have no idea what the poem is about.

anonymous · Answer

yeah, english is not like math, it takes more time to digest what is happening instead of giving multiple choice answers. :)

anonymous · Answer

Ohhhhhhh, ok. I understand. He's stating that basically you may be rich and wealthy in your life, but once your dead and 'Death' takes you it doesn't make any difference. You're still dead and you're still buried in the ground just like most everyone else.

anonymous · Answer

yup.

anonymous · Answer

And thank you!

anonymous · Answer

no problem. :) bye