Introduction This is the 36th line that occurs in the ninth stanza of the poem, ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ by Thomas Grey, the eminent British professor and poet, renowned for this poem. Thomas Grey has artistically threaded the words into a garland which provokes a deep sense and leaves a grand message to the mankind. The quotation implies that people, from all walks of life, who accomplish pre-eminence and glory by heroic, generous, reforming and redressing activities either by their talents or by exercising power over the mass will end in the grave. So, they should not boast of themselves by exaggerating their transitory impression and influence over the mass. With their death all these will efface from the memory of the poor. Glory The word ‘glory’ appears to different people with different meaning, but in the broader sense, it implies the success or accomplishment. People feel and realise the glory of any achievement which is hard-earned and hard-obtained and worth-rewarding and appreciable. In any sphere, achievement requires talent and efficiency charged by diligence, perseverance and a lot more sacrifice and strenuous activities. Paths of Glory The very phrase, ‘Paths of Glory’, reminds us the bravery of the soldiers in the battle fields. They confront and combat the challenges posed by our enemies, and defend our nation as well as save from the dangers by sacrificing their lives for the sake of our security and safety. Their chivalric deeds indicate that those are certainly the paths of glory. The phrase has, however, no narrow limited sense; rather it has broader sense that means the heroic and stout deeds in all walks of life. Every person struggles throughout his life to achieve something he/she has posted as his/her goal in life. There are also many people who eat to live but do not do anything for the well-being of their fellow citizens. In both these cases, we face great difficulties in our everyday life, just to meet the bare necessities of life like, food, shelter and rest. Some people live to eat and only think of the means of gathering their food, while the others concentrate on their performance and their duties. People have growing tendency to work for wealth, pride, prestige, dignity, name and fame, property and much more. Aims and objectives in life vary from person to person. The Path of Glory implies the paths people follow and stick to till they accomplish their targeted goals. Glorious paths lead to grave, and our paths of glory have mainly two contradictory outlooks, which are defined as follows:
Positive Outlook
Some people who consider the paths of glory with their positive outlook always feel confidence and bravery, and hardly care for the obstacles that appear in course of their life. They proceed ahead with great enthusiasm and courage and lead an uncertain life full of dangers and perils. The pace of our life decides our destiny i.e. as fast people march towards their goal and achieve it ultimately, so the glory of their success follows them even after the end of their life. The honourable soldiers and leaders do the same thing.
Negative Outlook
The same extract means differently to some other people. People hanker after the materialistic things like money, wealth, etc., or they stick to gaining the abstracts like power, popularity, etc. to find their glory. Their glorious life makes them satisfied and proud, but even with that glory, one day they go the grave; so there is no cause of being proud of this transitory glory. If we observe the lives of people around us, it will be very clear that people with ambition go through various hazards of their lives and often are found in stress and strain. There are also some people who do not care for money and wealth; rather they are much careful of the abstracts like love, affection and care and enjoy their lives to their hearts’ content. But the ambitious people stick to their by sacrificing even many moments of joys and happiness. As a consequence, they suffer sometimes from serious diseases which often hasten their lives to the graves.
Though, the glorious people are successful to meet their goal, to fulfil their desires and wants, they fail, no doubt, to enjoy the pleasant moments in their life. So, they can hardly value the priceless things like love and affection.
Conclusion
The ambiguous words or extracts are difficult to decide in this mundane world. People with negative attitudes are growing faster and create a negative atmosphere in their circle. It is high time that we should try to create and value the positive aspects that this extract hints at by adding the varieties of life: time to get together with kith and kins, friends and other near ones, enjoying our pleasant moments in eternal sources of happiness—the wonders of nature.