Question

What does the poet mean in the following lines from “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”? Their lot forbade: nor circumscribed alone Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined a. The villagers’ simple lives helped them avoid evil. b. The villagers’ vices were the cause of their hard lives. c. The villagers’ lives prevented them from being good. d. The villagers’ faults were hidden by their deaths.

Answer 1

The poet means: a. The villagers’ simple lives helped them avoid evil.  

Thomas Gray, a XVIII poet, describes the villagers' humble or simple life. This is one of his purposes: to show the contrast bewteen the poor villagers and the rich citizens who have become rich at the expense of the poor villagers. In the lines, the poet tells that their social class (their lot) does not allow the poor villagers to do good or evil. In his opinion, they are not seen as virtuous people or criminals. Their poverty has made them nothing but simple.

b. The villagers’ vices were the cause of their hard lives. The poet does not see any vice in the villagers.

c. The villagers’ lives prevented them from being good. The poet wants to highlight the simple lives of the villagers. This option just refers to "..villagers' life".

d. The villagers’ faults were hidden by their deaths. The poet thinks the villagers have not done anything wrong.

Answer 2

What does the poet mean in the following lines from “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard”? Their lot forbade: nor circumscribed alone Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined

a. The villagers’ simple lives helped them avoid evil.

b. The villagers’ vices were the cause of their hard lives.

c. The villagers’ lives prevented them from being good.

d. The villagers’ faults were hidden by their deaths.

The author of this poem means with that line that death was something that had to happen to them. The death was something inevitable, that was their destiny but nobody wakes up every day thinking that you are going to die, for this reason, the author wants to express that their simple life style helped them to cope with the thought of death, by simple he mean humble as it is not hte case of the rich people who did nothing but crimes. Like everyone, the people form the village had virtues and some "crimes" that died with them that day.

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