1、Thomas Gray17161771By Aileen,Thomas Gray was born in 1716, of middle-class parents. He was the only one of 12 children to survive infancy. In 1727 Thomas become a pupil at Eton, where he met several bookish friends, included Richard West and Horace Walpole, son of Englands first modern-style prime m
2、inster and later an important man of letters.,Gray attended Cambridge University from 1734 to 1738 . After leaving the university without a degree he undertook the grand tour of Europe with Walpole from1739 to 1741.In 1742 Gray returned to Cambridge and took a law degree the next year. Gray declined
3、 the poet laureateship in 1757. After a somewhat hypochondriacal middle age he died on July 30,1771.,Sentimentalismone of the significant and popular trends in English literature in the second half of the 18 century is Sentimentalism. Sentimentalism is overindulgence in ones emotion for the sake of
4、his overwhelming discontent towards the social reality, and pessimistic belief and emphasis upon the virtue of man .,The Graveyard School (墓地派诗歌） The Graveyard School refers to 18th-century school of English poets who wrote primarily about human mortality .Often set in a graveyard ,their poems mused
5、 on the vicissitudes of life ,the solitude of death and the grave ,and the anguish of bereavement. Their air of pensive gloom presaged the melancholy of the Romantic Movement . The most famous graveyard poems were Robert Blairs The Grave ,Edward Youngs nine volume The Complaint, or Night Thoughts on
6、 Life , Death ,and Immortality and Thomas Grays Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.,Grays poems not more than ten poem hand handed down, among them with the first “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1750) ”is the most famous. Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard The curfew tolls the knell of
7、 parting day, The lowing herd winds slowly oer the lea, The ploughman homeward plods his weary way, And leaves the world to darkness and to me.,Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight, And all the air a solemn stillness holds, Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight, And drowsy tinkl
8、ings lull the distant folds: Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower The moping owl does to the moon complain Of such as, wandering near her secret bower, Molest her ancient solitary reign.,Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-trees shade, Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap, Each in his
9、narrow cell for ever laid, The rude Forefathers of the hamlet sleepThe breezy call of incense-breathing morn, The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed, The cocks shrill clarion, or the echoing horn, No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.,The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, The
10、 swallow twittering from the straw-built shed, The cocks shrill clarion, or the echoing horn, No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed,Or busy housewife ply her evening care :No children run to lisp their sires return, Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share, Oft did the harvest to their si
11、ckle yield,Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke; How jocund did they drive their team afield! How bowd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!Let not Ambition mock their useful toil, Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile The short and simple annals
12、of the Poor.,The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth eer gave, Awaits alike th inevitable hour: -The paths of glory lead but to the graveNor you, ye Proud, impute to these the faultIf Memory oer their tomb no trophies raise, Where through the long-drawn aisle a
13、nd fretted vault The pealing anthem swells the note of prais,晚钟响起来一阵阵给白昼报丧， 牛群在草原上迂回，吼声起落， 耕地人累了，回家走，脚步踉跄， 把整个世界留给了黄昏与我。 苍茫的景色逐渐从眼前消退， 一片肃穆的寂静盖遍了尘寰， 只听见嗡嗡的甲虫转圈子纷飞， 昏沉的铃声催眠着远处的羊栏。 峥嵘的榆树底下，扁柏的荫里， 草皮鼓起了许多零落的荒堆， 各自在洞窟里永远放下了身体， 小村里粗鄙的父老在那里安睡。香气四溢的晨风轻松的呼召， 燕子从茅草棚子里吐出的呢喃， 公鸡的尖喇叭，使山鸣谷应的猎号 再不能唤醒他们在地下的长眠。,在他们
14、，熊熊的炉火不再会燃烧， 忙碌的管家妇不再会赶她的夜活； 孩子们不再会“牙牙”的报父亲来到， 为一个亲吻爬倒他膝上去争夺。 往常是：他们一开镰就所向披靡， 顽梗的泥板让他们犁出了垄沟； 他们多么欢欣地赶牲口下地！ 他们一猛砍，树木就一棵棵低头！ “雄心”别嘲讽他们实用的操劳， 家常的欢乐，默默无闻的命运； “豪华”也不用带着轻蔑的冷笑 来听讲穷人的又短有简的生平。 门第的炫耀，有权有势的煊赫， 凡是美和财富所能赋予的好处， 前头都等待着不可避免的时刻： 光荣的道路无非是引导到坟墓。,骄傲人，你也不要怪这些人不行， “怀念”没有给这些人建立纪念堂， 没有让悠长的廊道、雕花的拱顶 洋溢着洪亮的赞美
15、歌，进行颂扬。 栩栩的半身像，铭刻了事略的瓮碑， 难道能恢复断气，促使还魂？ “荣誉”的声音能激发沉默的死灰？ “献媚”能叫死神听软了耳根？ 也许这一块地方，尽管荒芜， 就埋着曾经充满过灵焰的一颗心； 一双手，本可以执掌到帝国的王芴 或者出神入化地拨响了七弦琴。 可是“知识”从不曾对他们展开 它世代积累而琳琅满目的书卷； “贫寒”压制了他们高贵的襟怀， 冻结了他们从灵府涌出的流泉。,世界上多少晶莹皎洁的珠宝 埋在幽暗而深不可测的海底； 世界上多少花吐艳而无人知晓， 把芳香白白地散发给荒凉的空气。 也许有乡村汉普顿在这里埋身， 反抗过当地的小霸王，胆大，坚决； 也许有缄口的米尔顿，从没有名声；
16、有一位克伦威尔，并不曾害国家流血。 要博得满场的元老雷动的鼓掌， 无视威胁，全不顾存亡生死， 把富庶，丰饶遍播到四处八方， 打从全国的笑眼里读自己的历史他们的命运可不许：既不许罪过 有所放纵，也不许发挥德行； 不许从杀戮中间涉登宝座 从此对人类关上仁慈的大门；,Gray achieves a perfect fusion of the dignity of his subject and the habitual elevatedness of his poetics. His style and his melancholy attitude toward life are perfectly to the expression of the somber, time-honored verities of human experience.,The end ! Thank you !,
