elegy written in a country churchyard, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica elegy written in a country churchyard e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD INGHILTERRA Thomas Gray was born in London in 1716 Gray's poetics is presented in two aspects: on the one hand it’s based on a refined style, and on the other hand it celebrates, in sentimental and pathetic tones, the life and death of unknown people buried in a country cemetery, as in the Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, 1751, which is also his best-known and best-loved poem and which was an immediate success, contributing to the establishment on a European scale of sepulchral poetry. By "sepulchral poetry" is meant a poetic genre that spread at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries whose favorite theme is the "meditation on death" and whose prevailing tone is one of nostalgic-melancholic commiseration for the inexorable passing of time or for loved ones who are no longer with us. CONTENUTO E TEMATICHE Gray's Elegy written in a country churchyard refers to many other English poems of the period that explore the theme of death, to make it more familiar to their audience. Despite the existence of this tradition, Gray does not dwell on the classic symbolic images of death. His description of places, the moon, birds and nature lacks the gloomy connotation that characterizes other contemporary poems, Gray even avoids using the term "grave" , replacing it with euphemisms. Rather, the fundamental trait of the Elegy is that of melancholy, which brings this composition closer to the European pre-Romantic climate and Rousseau's thought, with its appeal to the importance of feelings and passions. In Italy Gray's melancholic and pathetic attitude is found, in different ways, in the poetry of Vittorio Alfieri (1749-1803) and that of Pindemonte, especially after the translation of the Elegia by Melchiorre Cesarotti (1730-1808). The most conspicuous influence, however, is on Foscolian Sepolcri, which, especially in the first part, refers explicitly to Gray's taste and sensibility. In particular, the incipit of Sepolcri (vv. 1-3: "All'ombra de' cipressi e dentro l'urne | confortate di pianto è forse il sonno | della morte men duro? [...]") closely recalls a passage from the Elegy: Can storied urn or animated bust back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust, Or Flattery soothe the dull cold ear of Death? Possono un’urna istoriata o un busto che sembra vivo riportare il respiro sfuggente nel corpo? Può la voce dell’Onore ridare vita alla polvere silenziosa, o la Lusinga lenire l’orecchio gelido e sordo della Morte? While in both texts the two poets emphasize how death equals the fates of the humble and the powerful and celebrate what Foscolo calls the "heavenly correspondence of amorous senses" (vv. 29-30) guaranteed by the tomb, some differences are also relevant. First of all, Foscolo celebrates in succession the affective, civil, political and poetic value of the tomb, while Gray, from the very first verses, focuses on the praise of the common people, according to a perspective that views fame and power negatively, as illusory realities that don’t survive men. The landing point of their argument also differs: if for Foscolo it’s up to poetry to eternalize the memory of heroes for Gray a source of consolation is the existence of God, who can see even the most mediocre and modest lives come to an end without anyone noticing. The Elegy, probably composed to commemorate the death of his friend Richard West in 1742, opens on the contemplation of a small country cemetery, probably the Stoke Poges cemetery, at twilight, that leads Gray to reflect on the dead who are buried there (vv. 1-12). Gray, in the calm of the dying day, hears the cry of an owl (vv. 9-12) that introduces the sepulchral theme, projected against the backdrop of a silent, inviolate countryside. These are the first four stanzas of the text: ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, the lowing herd wind slowly o'er 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 tinklings 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-tree's shade, where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap, each in his narrow cell for ever laid, the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. La campana batte il rintocco del crepuscolo, la mandria che muggisce si stende lentamente sul prato, il contadino cammina stancamente verso casa, e lascia all’oscurità e a me il mondo. Ora il luccicante paesaggio svanisce alla vista, e tutta l’aria mantiene una solenne fissità, tranne dove vola ronzando qualche insetto, e sonnolenti campanacci cullano i greggi lontani; tranne dove, dalla torre coperta di edera laggiù, il gufo avvilito si lamenta con la luna di chi, vagando vicino al suo segreto nido, molesta il suo regno antico e solitario. Sotto quei robusti olmi, quell’ombra dei tassi, dove il terreno si solleva in cumuli marcescenti, ognuno giace per sempre nella sua stretta cella, dormono i rozzi antenati del borgo. In the next verses (vv. 13-28) the poet focuses, through the graves, the meaning of death for the simple people (v. 16: "the rude forefathers") who inhabit that rural hamlet in communion with Nature. In contrast, the following stanzas describe by opposition the life on earth of the rich and powerful (vv. 29-44): all their power will be nullified by death, and so it’s pointless for Gray to flaunt his wealth (e.g., with lavish funerary monuments) or - even worse - to make fun of the simpler, more modest people. As stated in vv. 33-36: The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, and all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, awaits alike the inevitable hour. The paths of glory lead but to the grave. Il vanto dell’araldica, lo sfarzo del potere, e tutta quella bellezza, tutta quella ricchezza donate, aspettano allo stesso modo l’ora inevitabile. Il sentiero della gloria conduce soltanto alla tomba. All earthly goods (nobility, power, outward beauty, accumulated possessions) are therefore useless and illusory. The theme of the substantial equality of men is also reaffirmed a little further on (vv. 45-76), where Gray develops the argument that many of the unknowns buried in the country cemetery before his eyes could have become famous, for better or worse, had they not been limited by the circumstances of being born in a poor and underdeveloped environment (vv. 59-60: "Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest | Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood"). The concept, undoubtedly innovative for an intellectual of the time, opens the second part of the Elegy, where Gray especially develops the sentimental and pathetic aspects of the tomb: contemplation of the humble and crude graves of the village peasants (vv. 77-92) suggests to the poet the image that the dead man asks those passing by for at least a tear or a sigh for his fate. Affection for the deceased finds an ideal reference point in the grave, while the voice of Nature rises from it. Gray then adds (vv. 93-116) the story of a hoary-headed man (v. 97: "some hoary-headed swain") who used to roam those lands before his death and who can be meant as a stand-in for the poet himself. The Elegy closes with a three-room Epitaph (vv. 117-128) describing the poet's grave, over which the narrator is meditating. Here it’s explained that the poet was young and unknown (v. 118: "a youth to fortune and to fame unknown”), plagued by melancholy but a good and sincere soul, who found in death a friend