. They were never important but they will always be a part of history in a nationseyes(line 64). They will live on in the memories of their friends and relatives.The people who are being described by the speaker could have been pregnant with celestialfire(line46), in other words they might have been special, but they never were. However they will live onforever as ordinary people in our memories: ...in our ashes live their wonted fires(line 92). This isexemplified in stanza 24 when the speaker makes a reference to Gray himself. The speaker states thatGray is mindful of the unhonored dead(line 93) and by relating their artless tale(line 94) foreverburns their memory into our minds.The Elegy takes a sudden turn in stanza 24. Gray now incorporates himself as an individual whomight also be remembered. Haply some hoary-headed swain may say(line 97) or perhaps somegrey-haired man may one day remember Gray as he walked with hasty steps(line 99) at the peep ofdawn(line 98) to see the sunrise on the upland lawn or plateau. This account continues up to andincluding stanza 29 where Gray walks into a graveyard and reads his own gravestone which is includedas the last three stanzas of the Elegy as the Epitaph. It is not, however, his gravestone but that of hisfriend. He sees his friend in himself just as we presently see our forefathers in ourselves and so he placeshis own name on the gravestone. By the end of the Elegy the speaker learns to accept his loss. The realisation that life goes on andthat the memory of his friend will live on, just as his will live on, helps to cope with the loss. Graystarted the Elegy by presenting the reader with a dilemma. In this case that dilemma was How do I copewith my loss? By the end of the Elegy that dilemma was answered. The answer was that his friend willlive on in his heart and later in his remains as supported by line 92: ...in our Ashes live their...fires. ...
