...those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, Where heaves the turf in many a mouldering heap, 1 5 Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. THE breezy call of incense-breathing morn, The swallow twittering from the straw-built shed,...

...effectively celebrated the stasis of rural community: Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap Each...for ever laid, The rude Forefathers of the hamlet sleep . . . Let not Ambition mock their useful toil. Their homely joys, and destiny obscure; Nor grandeur...

...secret bow'r, Molest her ancient solitary reign. Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap, Each...for ever laid, The rude Forefathers of the hamlet sleep. The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, The swallow twitt'ring from the straw-built shed,...

...the critic was obviously thinking of lines 13-16: Beneath those rugged Elms, that Yewtree's Shade, Where heaves the Turf in many a mould'ring Heap, Each...for ever laid, The rude Forefathers of the Hamlet sleep, and in the second instance he was thinking of the familiar opening stanzas of the poem. The...

...you: give me a possession of a burying place with you, that I may bun/ my dead out ofnnI sight.^ Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, The rude Forefathers of the hamlet sleep.2 Anyone who looks at gravestones in church or chapel burial grounds will observe a very frequent...

...field at Stoke Poges that Thomas Gray celebrated: Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade. Where heaves the turf in many a mould'ring heap, Each...for ever laid, The rude Forefathers of the hamlet sleep. The eighteenth century in England produced a whole school of graveyard poets. Gray the latest...

...reign. Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree's shade, Where heaves the turf in many a mold'ring heap, Each in his narrow cell for ever laid, The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. The breezy call of incense-breathing morn, The swallow twitt'ring from the straw-built shed,...

...folds. Beneath whose 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. The Elegy was partly conceived as a conscious inversion of the Virgilian Eclogue. The coming...