An "epitaph" is a written commemoration of a person’s life, often on a gravestone. Even if you didn’t know how the poem ended, an epitaph would be the most logical choice to end this poem. An "epigraph" is a short quotation (usually presented at the beginning of a novel or other published work), an "epigram" is a short or witty saying, an "epistle" is a letter, and an "epicure" is someone who appreciates fine food and beverages. The particular epitaph at the end of this poem memorializes a poet who died with his work unknown, an insight into Gray’s own views of his work.

Passage adapted from "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" by Thomas Gray, ln.95-104 (1751)

This is Alexander Pope’s poem The Rape of the Lock. Belinda is one of the main characters of this work.

Passage adapted from Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, I.1-12 (1712; ed. 1906)

This poem is based on the true story of two noble families in England during Pope’s lifetime. The inspiration for the poem occurred when a male suitor of one family cut off a lock of hair from a woman (named Belinda in the poem) of the other family without her permission. Pope uses his extensive powers of hyperbole, the mock-heroic form, and classical allusions to satirize this incident and blow it entirely out of proportion.

Passage adapted from Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, I.1-12 (1712; ed. 1906)

Shelley wrote this elegy memorializing John Keats, who had died of tuberculosis in Rome.

Passage adapted from Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats by Percy Bysshe Shelley, I.1-9 (1821)

Sir Walter Raleigh wrote this poem, "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd," in 1596 as a response to, and a parody of, Christopher Marlowe's famous pastoral poem "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love." Marlowe's original is one of the best examples of the type of poem that is known as "Pastoral."

Passage adapted from "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" by Sir Walter Raleigh (1596)

This is The Faerie Queene, written by Edward Spenser in the late sixteenth century. The poem is distinguishable by its nine-line Spenserian stanzas, which follows an ABABBCBCC rhyme scheme, with the first eight lines in iambic pentameter and the last in iambic hexameter. This stanza also mentions one of the poem’s main characters, the Redcrosse Knight.

Passage adapted from The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser, I.ii.15.1-9 (1590)

These characters are from Beowulf. Grendel is the monster that Beowulf fights to avenge the destruction of Heorot; Wiglaf is a young warrior and follower of Beowulf; Hrothgar is the king of the Danes and lord of Heorot; and Breca is a childhood friend of Beowulf.

The Pearl Poet is another name for the Gawain Poet, an anonymous author who is thought to have written the fourteenth-century poems Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Pearl. A classic Arthurian narrative, this poem is a chivalric romance that follows the adventures of Sir Gawain.

The Exeter Book, a tenth-century codex of Anglo-Saxon poetry, contains nearly a hundred riddles on various subjects. While the Exeter Book is also known for its lyric elegies, it is important to remember that the manuscript contains an important variety of secular writings and is one of the best known sources of extant early English poetry. 

Written in the late 1300s, this poem is titled Piers Plowman and is widely considered one of the most important works of Middle English literature. Langland used unrhymed alliterative verse to develop his satirical religious allegory featuring three men, Dobest, Dobet, and Dowel.

Passage adapted from Piers Plowman, l.1-10