Thomas Gray

Question 1

disrespectful; scornful

Answer 1

disdainful

Question 2

English political leader who led the anti-Royalists during the English Civil War; then ruled as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth from 1649-1660

Answer 2

Cromwell

Question 3

areas; boundaries

Answer 3

precincts

Question 4

a sustained, formal poem that mourns the loss of someone or something; a lament or a sadly meditative poem on solemn theme

Answer 4

elegy

Question 5

decaying; decomposing

Answer 5

mouldering

Question 6

songs of grief or lamentation; funeral songs

Answer 6

dirges

Question 7

the sound of a slowly rung bell, usually for a death or funeral

Answer 7

knell

Question 8

extreme poverty

Answer 8

penury

Question 9

hidden; isolated

Answer 9

sequestered

Question 10

historical records

Answer 10

annals

Question 11

to use his poetry to remember and honor the poor country folk buried there

Answer 11

the poet’s purpose in writing this poem

Question 12

“Fair Science frowned not on his humble youth… Large was his bounty, and his soul sincere … He gained from heaven a friend.”

Answer 12

the speaker’s epitaph

Question 13

The glimmering landscape; the solemn still of the air; the beetle wheels his droning flight; drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds; the moping owl complains to the moon.

Answer 13

some imagery in stanzas 2-3

Question 14

“hear with a disdainful smile,

The short and simple annals of the poor.”

Answer 14

the personification of Grandeur

Question 15

“uncouth rhymes and shapeless sculpture”; just “their name, their years,” and some Bible verses

Answer 15

the monuments over the simple, poor folks graves

Question 16

poor, simple folk

Answer 16

the type of people buried in the country churchyard

Question 17

“The curfew tolls the knell of parting day.” The curfew bell rings because it is the end of the day, only it rings the (death) knell. Thus, the parting day represents the parting life, which gives way to night (death).

Answer 17

metaphor and theme of the poem

Question 18

All things are settling down for the evening. The lowing herd are winding over the meadow, and the ploughman is plodding his weary way home. Left with himself and the darkness, the speaker reveals his thoughtful, reflective mood.

Answer 18

the setting and mood of stanza 1

Question 19

They did unknown because “their lot forbade it” - that is, because of their poverty.

Answer 19

the broad idea for stanzas 13-19

Question 20

The blazing hearth will not burn, no children run to lisp their sire’s return, etc.

Answer 20

a couple earthly pleasures the dead will no longer be able to enjoy