Brooks, Cleanth, "Gray's Storied Urn," in The Well-Wrought Urn, New York: Harcourt Brace, 1947, pp. 96-113. Brooks, one of this century's most esteemed literary critics, examines the layers of complexity in this seemingly simple poem, which he likens to "a tissue of allusion and half-allusion."
Glazier, Lyle, "Gray's Elegy: "The Skull Beneath the Skin," in University ofKansas Review, Vol. XIX, Spring, 1953, pp. 174-180.
Glazier interprets this as a poem of equality, favoring no class over another. He reminds readers that it is not merely about the virtues of the poor, but a declaration that all persons, rich and poor, are mortal.
Golden, Morris, Thomas Gray, New York: Grosset & Dun-lap, Publishers, 1964.
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