Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard Essay -- Literary Analysis, Gray

The Declaration of Independence contains a snippet somewhat the equality of men a topic interesting to 18th atomic number 6 authors. The speakers in colour ins Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard and in Goldsmiths The Deserted colony utilize the themes of death and isolation in order to represent the contrastive social classes. Goldsmiths speaker idealizes and mourns the decay of rural life, bandage Grays speaker equalizes the different classes. . This essay examines the difference betwixt these two depictions and shows how Grays use of rhetorical features creates a more(prenominal) convincing argument. Goldsmiths speaker begins nostalgically for the loveliest closure of the plain, (1) by listing the towns virtues which include The never-failing brook, the busy mill, The decent church building . (11-12) Goldsmith uses this imagery to contrast the current state of the village, he goes on to say that These were thy charmsBut all these charms are fled. (34) Here, the sp eaker urges readers to admonish the harm of the villages charms by destroying the imagery created by the first 33 lines. He continues the description of the land as forlorn (76), but succession the villagers were forced to abandon the area, the speakers nostalgia implies that he chose to leave. This nostalgia implies that the speakers depiction of the village could be highly romanticized. The speaker likens the loss of the village with a much greater problem, The country bloomsa garden, and a grave. (302) He suggests that this is not an isolated problem, but an epidemic that is happening all oer the country. The village is lost to make room for a garden and a grave the first belongs to the nobility and the later to the peasant. His portrayal of the New globe supports th... ...dsmith looks to associate with the nobility. He goes on to speak of wealthinessiness saying This wealth is but a name That leaves our useful products still the same. (273-274) The use of enjambmen t forces the reader to quickly read over wealth, the effect makes wealth seem less important which mimics the actual words themselves, thus Goldsmith suggests that wealth is of very little importance in life. Both speakers advocate a respect for the rural class, while Grays speaker does it by likening the greats to the common men Goldsmith uses hyperbole to lessen the conjure up of the upper class. Grays work is succinct and contains many stylistic elements that encourage readers to see social classes as transparent and not as limiting. Goldsmith portrays the upper class as the death of rural life, whereas Grays speaker portrays the classes as not being mutually exclusive.