Explain the poem "The Country Churchyard".

The only poem that I could find which references a country
church-yard is Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard".  This poem is
historically the most famous of the 18th century elegy poems written by one of the
Graveyard Poets.

The poem is a typical elegy poem. Elegy
poems were mournful and lamenting (normally used in funerals). The elegy contains three
specific elements: lament, praise, and then consolation. The lament section of the poem
details the grief the survivor of the lost feels.  The praise section offers praise for
the deceased. The consolation section offers closure for the speaker regarding the loss
of the loved one they are suffering from.

"Elegy Written in
a Country Churchyard" is typical of the 18th century elegy poem (just simply does not
follow the sectioning of most elegies). While the beginning of the poem simply describes
the surroundings of the speaker, it still details the setting of a mournful and grieving
place:

And
leaves the world to darkness and to me.

Now fades the
glimm'ring landscape on the
sight,

After describing his
surroundings, the speaker begins to think about more specific thoughts about the dead-
his own.  Here, the poem moves into a more typical aspect seen in elegy poetry. The
speaker's thoughts focus on the excesses associated with different things in the
world:

Full
many a flow'r is born to blush
unseen

After the excess of
the world are examined, the speaker's thoughts move to his own end and how those who
have past want to be remembered.

Prior to the epitaph that
ends the poem, the speaker describes the grave site of the poet whose tombstone he is
standing over and the end of the life of the
poet.

Depending on which version of the poem your are
reading, there is another stanza which proceeds the epitaph. This stanza discusses the
inevitable fate that all mankind will meet: death.