Death in a Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard by Thomas Grey

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Death is a subject many fear. No one seems comfortable with the idea of dying, nor the situation of someone else dying. Why is this? Sure, you could look at it from a religious standpoint and come up with the comfort that the person is either going to Heaven or to Hell. This may comfort you at some point, but what did they leave behind? Besides physical wealth, what will people remember them by? It seems once a person has passed away, the only thing that is remembered is how hard the person worked, how much they contributed to the common good of society. A famous writer and poet seemed to come to this conclusion in the end. Thomas Grey’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard addresses death as being the great equalizer, the simple people are the ones who matter in society, and only certain things are left behind that really matter after death. Initially, Grey states that death is the great equalizer. Within the first half of the poem, Grey states that everything gained in this world is all for none. In lines 33-36 Grey says, “The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that b...

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