In “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,” arguably the finest elegy in English literature and Thomas Gray’s most famous work, the speaker lingers by the simple graves of country folk buried near a village church. In the gathering twilight, he contemplates how they lived their lives and meditates on the nature of death itself. Gray employs numerous metaphors in the poem in describing the setting, contrasting the villagers’ simple lives with those of the rich and powerful, and depicting death as a shared human experience, regardless of one’s station in life.

Skills: analysis, drawing inferences from text, close reading, identifying the relationship between words

About This Document

The Owl Eyes Analyzing Metaphor activity gives students an opportunity to practice examining and analyzing metaphors. Students will engage with specific selections of the text and work collaboratively to identify the vehicle, tenor, and implications of each metaphor. The main components include the following:

• A brief introduction to the text
• A detailed handout on metaphor types
• A step-by-step guide to activity procedure
• A detailed answer key for teachers

In completing this worksheet, students will learn to classify and analyze different kinds of metaphors in order to develop close reading skills and draw deeper inferences from the text.