I’m putting together a vocabulary audio podcast for the GRE general. Stay tuned for updates!
]]>The GRE may ask you to associate a certain poem or author with the graveyard poets, but aside from that I wouldn’t spend too much time studying them. Just know what to look for so you can identify the genre and take an educated guess at the author. if you do see a graveyard poem, chances are it was written by either Thomas Gray or Robert Blair. Here’s an excerpt from Blair’s poem “The Grave,” which is pretty typical for the genre.
Robert Blair (1699-1746)
The Grave (excerpt)
While some affect the sun, and some the shade.
Some flee the city, some the hermitage;
Their aims as various, as the roads they take
In journeying thro’ life;–the task be mine,
To paint the gloomy horrors of the tomb;
Th’ appointed place of rendezvous, where all
These travellers meet.–Thy succours I implore,
Eternal King! whose potent arm sustains
The keys of Hell and Death.–The Grave, dread thing!
Men shiver when thou’rt named: Nature appall’d
Shakes off her wonted firmness.–Ah ! how dark
The long-extended realms, and rueful wastes!
Where nought but silence reigns, and night, dark night,
Dark as was chaos, ere the infant Sun
Was roll’d together, or had tried his beams
Athwart the gloom profound.
The Graveyard Poets include , , , , , , , , , , and . is also sometimes included as a graveyard poet.
]]>Poetry written in couplets is sometimes varied by the introduction of a triplet, in which the third line is an alexandrine. This occurs in the following example from Dryden, which introduces a triplet after two couplets:
A But satire needs not those, and wit will shine
A Through the harsh cadence of a rugged line:
B A noble error, and but seldom made,
B When poets are by too much force betrayed.
C Thy generous fruits, though gathered ere their prime,
C Still showed a quickness; and maturing time
C But mellows what we write to the dull sweets of rhyme.