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- Title
ROMANTICISM AND REMEMBERING.
- Authors
Bowdler, Roger
- Abstract
This article looks at the celebrated poem Elegy in a Country Churchyard (1751) by Thomas Gray, and links it to the place of its inspiration, Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire. The development of English churchyard memorials is considered, followed by a brief discussion of the Graveyard School of poetry, which considered themes of mortality and melancholy set in the context of burial grounds. This formed a strand of proto-romanticism and was influential across Europe. The poem is then analysed in terms of its discussion of rural approaches to death and remembrance. A survey of mid-18th century churchyard memorials at Stoke Poges is then provided, and their imagery discussed: most of these post-date the publication of the poem. Thomas Gray died in 1771 and was buried in the tomb of his mother and aunt. He subsequently received a memorial in Westminster Abbey. A later owner of Stoke Park, the manor house of the estate, John Penn, was eager to commemorate the poet. He commissioned the celebrated architect James Wyatt to design 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 from the Elegy. This was a highly unusual form of parkland memorial celebrating a poet and his best-known work, which has subsequently become one of the best-known verses in the English language. There is irony in that the poem is a discussion of rural humility and yet was celebrated through an imposing monument, raised by an extremely wealthy owner as a feature in his private park.
- Subjects
ELEGIAC poetry; MANOR houses; ROMANTICISM
- Publication
Baltic Journal of Art History, 2023, Vol 25, p63
- ISSN
1736-8812
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.12697/BJAH.2023.25.04