The Early Romantic Period: POETRY

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POETRY: Thomas Gray

The ideas behind Early Romantic poetry were a reaction against the rules and regulations of the Neo-Classicism of the eighteenth century. The Neo-Classicists rejected originality; Early Romantic poets, on the other hand, believed in individualism, imagination and emotion.  Thomas Gray was one of their precursors [=voorlopers]. He is remembered for one poem: "Elegy [=Klaagzang] Written In a Country Churchyard" (1751). It reflects the growing interest in nature, solitude and the common man. Its theme is Death and the vanity of human life and achievements. It's a melancholic poem written by a man who suffered from melancholia.

ELEGY WRITTEN IN A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD

1     The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,

2     The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea,

                3     The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,

         4      And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

De avondklok slaat het laatste uur van de dag,

De loeiende koeien lopen langzaam over het veld,

de ploeger loopt vermoeid naar huis,

en laat de wereld in duisternis en voor mij.

                      5    Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,

6    And all the air a solemn stillness holds, 

                   7     Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,

     8     And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds;

Nu vervaagt het glimm'rend landschap voor de ogen,

en heel de lucht is plechtig stil,

behalve waar de kever zoemt door de lucht,

en waar hun bellen de verre kuddes in slaap wiegt.

9   Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower

   10    The moping owl does to the moon complain

    11    Of such, as wandering near her secret bower,

12    Molest her ancient solitary reign.

9   Behalve dat van verre klimop-bedekte toren

   10    De boze uil zich bij de maan beklaagt

    11    Over hen, die haar beschutte slaapplek te dicht naderen,

12    En haar aloude, eenzame recht verstoren.

13  Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade,

14  Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap,

15  Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,

16  The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.

But most thro' midnight streets I hear

How the youthful Harlots curse

Blasts the new-born Infants tear

And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse 

stanza 1

The speaker takes a walk through the streets of London. This walk brings him near the River Thames, which seems to have its course dictated for it as it flows throughout the city. The speaker sees signs of resignation and sadness in the faces of every person he passes by.

stanza 2

The speaker hears this pain too, in the cries of men as well as those of fearful newborn babies. In fact, in every voice in the city, in every law or restriction London places on its population, the speaker can sense people's feelings of being oppressed by city life.

stanza 3

The speaker hears the cry of young chimney-sweeps, whose misery brings shame on the Church authorities. Thinking of unfortunate British soldiers dying in vain, he imagines their blood running down the walls of a palace.

stanza 4

Most of all, the poet hears the midnight cries of young prostitutes, who swear and curse at their situation. In turn, this miserable sound brings misery to their new-born children. Blake also imagines this sound plaguing what the speaker calls "the Marriage hearse"—a surreal imagined vehicle that carries love and death together, because the bridegroom carries the disease he contracted from the prostitute into his marriage.

marriage hearse = trouwkoets-lijkwagen