#98- A Thanksgiving Touchstone: Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” and Norman Rockwell's Freedom from Want

Online Great Books Podcast

This week, Scott and Karl talk about two, while unsuspecting, companion pieces: Thomas Gray’s poem “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” and Norman Rockwell's iconic painting Freedom from Want.

Scott says, "They are both about hearth and normal forgotten people."

"Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” is a 1751 poem about the buried inhabitants of a country churchyard and a meditation on the inevitability of death. This is considered the best example of elegiac poetry in English literature of the eighteenth century.

Freedom from Want, also known as The Thanksgiving Picture or I'll Be Home for Christmas, is the third of the Four Freedoms series of four oil paintings by American artist Norman Rockwell.

Tune in to hear more about the connection between these two pieces, and the celebration of life found in both.