Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard nearing, Gray questioned if his own life would enter into a sort of rebirth cycle or, should he die, if there would be anyone to remember him. Gray's meditations during spring 1750 turned to how individuals' reputations would survive. Eventually, Gray remembered some lines of poetry that he composed in 1742 following the death of West, a poet he knew. Using that previous material, he began to compose a poem that would serve as an answer to the various questions he was pondering. On 3 June 1750, Gray moved to Stoke Poges, and on 12 June he completed "Elegy Written
Paris: A Poem The speaker goes on a daylong stroll, beginning in a metro tunnel, before emerging onto the streets and visiting sites such as gardens and museums. References to advertisements, art pieces, literature, and music, as well as conversation fragments, are interspersed throughout. Parts of the poem imitate the appearance of the thing being described, such as posters and plaques. While the poem is primarily written in English, many of the lines use French and a couple words are in Greek. Mirrlees never wrote anything similar in style after "Paris". The first edition of the poem, Hogarth Press's fifth publication, was printed