Another Voice

9 May 2009

A funeral teaches me that Gray was wrong in his Elegy about the loneliness of virtue

Why were they here? Same as with Andrew Cavendish. Everybody, it seemed, loved Ken. In an astonishing break with Anglican tradition, the Vicar read the epistle (St Paul’s ‘We do not live to ourselves alone, and we do not die to ourselves alone’) with meaning, feeling and timing; and delivered an address that showed a real effort to find out about and understand the deceased. Heads nodded among us mourners outside, all moved, close friends and family in floods of tears; and we sang ‘All things bright and beautiful’, knowing how Ken loved trees.

I walked back alone down the lane to the main road, reproaching myself for imagining that if I had seen in Ken a gentle and noble soul, thousands of others wouldn’t have, too.

For this story isn’t really about Andrew Cavendish or Ken Buxton, but the congregations at their funerals — about people generally. People do detect goodness in others. They do respond. Nobility of soul does find its echo from other souls. Was Thomas Gray, in his ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’, right to say that ‘Full many a gem of purest ray serene/ The dark, unfathom’d caves of ocean bear/ Full many a flower is born to blush unseen/ And waste its sweetness on the desert air?’ No. We speak carelessly of the ingratitude of others, and the loneliness of virtue; but I think that when in some way a person rings true, many can hear it and they respond. Or so they did in the country churchyards of Edensor and Flash.

Previous page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

More articles from: Matthew Parris | this section

Print this article | Email to a friend | Permalink | Comments (2)

Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Post comment

Nicholas Storey

May 8th, 2009 12:32pm Report this comment

Nice piece to start the day but I'm not convinced that Gray meant virtue as much as unreached potential for want of opportumity or even just circumstance.

William Laing, Sydney

May 11th, 2009 12:15pm Report this comment

Thank you, Mr Parris, that was beautiful. After reading, years ago, your very unfortunate comment about a "shame" evoked by the admittedly splendid Moscow Metro, I decided I would give Another Voice a rest for a good long time, perhaps forever. I am very glad I resumed. Thanks again for a beautiful column.

Post comment