While watching Roger Federer playing flawless and picture-perfect tennis, yet again, against Andy Murray in the semis at Wimbledon last evening, I was effortlessly reminded of a discussion that we had in our class of English literature many-many years ago. The discussion was about Elegy, a form of sad and nostalgic poetry written in memory of someone who had died, and it was quite natural that we dwelled upon two of the greatest elegies of all time – Thomas Gray’s ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ and Tennyson’s ‘In Memoriam’. The distinguished professor, a very learned man he had the privilege of becoming a University Professor at a very young age, took the discussion towards decoding what greatness was all about. He reckoned that ‘In Memoriam’ was a far superior poem than ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’. While the former was a creation of poetic brilliance in its entirety…
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