The Paths of Glory Lead But To The Grave

Thomas Gray, an English poet, wrote the Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,  a poem of serious reflection, a lament for the dead ( the link of the poem ).

This line ‘The paths of glory lead but to the grave ‘ is written to draw our attention towards the fact that mortality is the ultimate, inevitable truth of life that no circumstance can change. No matter the bags of riches, fame and charm that one may have on his side, he has to taste the same death as the one with none. No matter the bags of riches, fame and charm that one may have on his side, he has to taste the same death as the one with none.

Before being social, man was just an animal. The concept of society led him to search for food, cloth and shelter ( the famous रोटी, कपडा मकान). But as man was able to fulfil his basic needs, the need took the shape of greed. With time as the civilisations came up, competitiveness increased. Materialism and power soon allured man. The man began to walk on a path of glory.

A wise person may become honoured by plugging in patience, hard work and ambition. Not to forget, that to walk the path to glory there needs to be, a balance of needs and sustenance. But one should not be brushed off by the fact that a brute always resides within every being. This brute when drunk with power and pride tends to lose the balance of conscience.

And no matter the amount of pain we endure to collect all the luxuries and possessions, the deathbed shall neither excuse nor negotiate with us.

A lot of other graveyard poets like John Keats, Robert Blair, et cetera have also used their pens to outline this topic and help us realise the dinkum oil.

I recall the poem ‘A Photograph’, from my schoolbook, by Shirley Toulson. Reading this poem was the first time I realised the bitter truth. I still have the quatrain running in my mind,

Now she’s been dead nearly as many years
As that girl lived. And of this circumstance
There is nothing to say at all.
Its silence silences.

Shirley Toulson

Death is indeed a thing about which nothing can be said. It’s silence silences.

Wolfgang Borchert, the environment of the Second World War affected whose work, writes in his play ‘The Outsider’: 

“A man dies. Only a few circles in the water prove that he was ever there. And even they quickly disappear. And when they’re gone, he’s forgotten, without a trace, as if he’d never even existed. And that’s all.”

German author and playwright – Wolfgang Borchert

In poor health, Steve Jobs, having known of his march being closer to death, tried to describe honestly his sense of death as: “No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new.” Dying is a continuous process which starts as soon as one is born. In softer terms, we call it ageing. Death is the ultimate result of this ongoing process. In fact, the vanity of life is in death. Health remains prized possession because of the cruelty of sickness and life remains so because of unwarranted death.

A thought that makes life full of life is the notion of ‘memento mori’ which means ‘Remember that you must die.’

There is More for You

To subscribe to our Newsletter:
Leave a comment and select 'Notify me of new posts via email' while posting it.