Gray's elegy
Sir: I wonder whether you would kindly allow a long established subscriber, who is, indeed, a mere layman, to make some observations on the Thomas Gray article (July 31) and in particular with regard to the date when the Elegy was written, as Peter WatsonSmyth's effort has led this reader only to the view that it is most unlikely that it was written on Sunday, August 28, 1737.
Firstly, an inconsistency: the letter to Horace Walpole dated June 12, 1750, " ... whose beginning you have seen long ago.,. in in spite of this evidence it is stated with reference to August 28, 1737,
that "He probaby only wrote the first three stanzas at that time, returning next day (that yew tree's shade) to continue it there ana, probably, by his favourite tree in the Beeches until it was finished." (my italics) thus implying a continuous process. What happened to the beginning, "long ago "? We are given the explanation that only three stanzes were shown to Walpole in 1737. This would have been pointless and highly improbable if the poem had been completed, as from a reading one can only conclude that the elegiac content was its very purpose (which is obviously why Mason persuaded Gray to select the more apt title before publication). It is more reasonable to suppose that Gray would either have shewn him the entire Elegy, if it existed, or, in view of Lady Walpole's death, nothing at all. On the other hand, it is submitted that the shewing of the three stanzas makes sense if it was done when Gray was in the course of writing the Elegy and at the time when he had only completed the opening stanzas.
Secondly the interpretation of "long ago ": this should, surely, be examined with relevance to the age of Gray when he wrote those words — thirty-three years. In weighing the probability of whether he is referring to a period of thirteen years, your contributor's choice, or from the date of the reconciliation in late 1745 i.e. a maximum period of four and a half years, one must give consideration to the fact that in one's twenties the years stretch almost as long as they do at an earlier age. Thus one would expect that any poem brieun when Gray was twenty would probably either have been completed within a few years at the most or put out of mind and forgotten by the time he had attained the age of thirtythree; "long ago" would seem more likely to refer to a period of about four and a half years, which would be long enough ago at that age.
Thirdly, an anachronism: the prosaic implication that because Gray was a keen and accurate student of Nature he would therefore set a scene at no other level than that of transforming actual sights and sounds into photographic verse. This approach denies the philosophy, creative thought and poetic fancy that is manifest in the entire Elegy. A similar denial is implied in putting a mundane interpretation upon the hour of twilight on August 28, 1737, the rerouting of the Bath Road, the original use of the word " village " for " hamlet " etc., and in assuming that the use of the words "curfew," " darkness " and "yew tree's shade" implies that these were experienced in precisely that order; on such a slim assumption the conclusion is reached that the original elegy was completed on the second day when Gray worked until it was finished
''It is with hesitation that one suggests that the approach of the article is almost philistine. For example, the writer does not seem to realise that in many people's
minds the word " hamlet " conveys the soft gentleness of the countryside and the mood of evening and sleep to a greater degree than the original " village " and this circumstance would provide a better reason for Gray's final choice of word than whether it accurately described the size of the community in which tha unnamed churchyard is in fact situated.
My point is that Peter WatsonSmyth's theory can only have a possibility of being right if he and all others who are qualified to judge the matter are certain that Gray could or would only depict a setting of what he actually saw and heard in one short space of time. I find it difficult to believe that a poet's mind would be restricted to working in this manner. The pedestrian methods applied in the article (involving dogged sleuthing, the production of a photograph, and deduction) to this subject would seem to presuppose the negation of the true quality of the art of poetry and the genius of Gray.
Fourthly, an ingenious explanation: it is also difficult to appreciate why such ingenuity has to be exercised to provide a reason for Gray to visit a country churchyard. Throughout the length and breadth of the land there must be numerous people doing the very same thing on almost any fine day in any year. Indeed, who has not spent a pleasant hour, at some time or other, in a country churchyard on a warm summer's eve?
There would seem to be nothing of substance in the article to cast doubt upon Walpole's recollection in his letter to Mason in which he said that he had received "the twelve or more first lines " at least three years after West's death, which would put this occurrence at about the time of the reconciliation, at the earliest.
That the "twelve or more first lines" were also the first lines in the sense that they were all that was completed of the Elegy when shewn to Walpole at the end of 1745 or early 1746 I submit to be a more likely hypothesis, based upon the information given in Peter Watson-Smyth's own article, and one which accords with the generally accepted completion date of 1750.
R. L. Richard Gowland's Cottage, Prince Edward's Road, Gibraltar
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