Thomas Gray has written one of his career-best poems “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” between 1746 and 1750. It is an elegy. Though the poem is written to mourn the death of the poor and simple villagers buried in the rural churchyard, it is basically a poem to mourn the loss of the simple…

In “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”, Thomas Gray refers to John Hampden (1594-1643). Hampden was the M.P. for Buckinghamshire during the reign of Charles-I who was the king of England from 1625 to 1649. Charles-I was a hot-headed king. He imposed new taxes on ship money without the approval of Parliament. Hamden protested against…