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Memoria Press The British Tradition III: The Romantic to the Victorian Age > Thomas Gray > Flashcards

Flashcards in Thomas Gray Deck (20)
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1
Q

disrespectful; scornful

A

disdainful

2
Q

English political leader who led the anti-Royalists during the English Civil War; then ruled as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth from 1649-1660

A

Cromwell

3
Q

areas; boundaries

A

precincts

4
Q

a sustained, formal poem that mourns the loss of someone or something; a lament or a sadly meditative poem on solemn theme

A

elegy

5
Q

decaying; decomposing

A

mouldering

6
Q

songs of grief or lamentation; funeral songs

A

dirges

7
Q

the sound of a slowly rung bell, usually for a death or funeral

A

knell

8
Q

extreme poverty

A

penury

9
Q

hidden; isolated

A

sequestered

10
Q

historical records

A

annals

11
Q

to use his poetry to remember and honor the poor country folk buried there

A

the poet’s purpose in writing this poem

12
Q

“Fair Science frowned not on his humble youth… Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere … He gained from heaven a friend.”

A

the speaker’s epitaph

13
Q

The glimmering landscape; the solemn still of the air; the beetle wheels his droning flight; drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds; the moping owl complains to the moon.

A

some imagery in stanzas 2-3

14
Q

“hear with a disdainful smile,

The short and simple annals of the poor.”

A

the personification of Grandeur

15
Q

“uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture”; just “their name, their years,” and some Bible verses

A

the monuments over the simple, poor folks graves

16
Q

poor, simple folk

A

the type of people buried in the country churchyard

17
Q

“The curfew tolls the knell of parting day.” The curfew bell rings because it is the end of the day, only it rings the (death) knell. Thus, the parting day represents the parting life, which gives way to night (death).

A

metaphor and theme of the poem

18
Q

All things are settling down for the evening. The lowing herd are winding over the meadow, and the ploughman is plodding his weary way home. Left with himself and the darkness, the speaker reveals his thoughtful, reflective mood.

A

the setting and mood of stanza 1

19
Q

They did unknown because “their lot forbade it” - that is, because of their poverty.

A

the broad idea for stanzas 13-19

20
Q

The blazing hearth will not burn, no children run to lisp their sire’s return, etc.

A

a couple earthly pleasures the dead will no longer be able to enjoy