Gray's Elegy

A tribute to poet Thomas Gray's elegiac masterpiece.

"The curfew tolls the knell of parting day, The lowing herd wind slowly o'er the lea"... Recognise these lines? This filmic interpretation of Thomas Gray's poetic masterpiece, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, a stalwart of the school curriculum, combines elements of the travelogue with Gray's glorious verse. Join the picturesque tour of St Giles' church in Stoke Poges and the surrounding countryside which inspired the poet.

Gray's Elegy is one in a short series of films entitled Poets' Britain, which celebrates some of Britain's most famous poems. Other titles in the series are devoted to the work of William Wordsworth and Alfred Tennyson. Unfortunately the sound quality of the film is marred by decomposition of the original negatives.