A Visit to the Aquia Episcopal Church

Aquia Episcopal Church
PO Box 275
Stafford, Virginia 22555
(540) 659-4007

Instructional Unit:
A trip to the Aquia Episcopal Church will provide students with the motivation and background of Thomas Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. Reflections of the Sensory Metaphor.

Curriculum Unit:
Grade 12
Language Art

Objectives:
1. The students will tour the historic church building of Aquia Episcopal Church in Stafford, Virginia and will be able to identify and explain significant architectural and historical details such as its history through three wars, its rare three-tiered pulpit, and its unique rarities.
2. The student will participate in the reading, analysis, and experience of Thomas Gray's Elegy in the 18th century churchyard of Aquia Church.
3. The student will be able to identify specific sensory metaphors from Gray's Elegy and relate them to his individual experience of the poem in the Aquia Churchyard.

Pre-Visit Activities:
Students will have explored the background of late 18th century English Literary history, as well as that of the early Romantic Movement in England. They will be familiar with Stoke Poges, the ancient English churchyard which is the setting of Gray's poem, and its significance to the content and figurative language in Elegy .

On-Site Activities:
Upon our arrival, the Reverend Joseph R. Kerr, III will conduct a tour of the site, giving pertinent ecclesiastical, architectural, and historical background. Students will move into the 18th century churchyard (with graves dating to the late 17th century) and will participate in a teacher-led reading, analysis, and discussion of Gray's Elegy .

Follow-Up Activities:
An objective test will be administered on which the student will identify and explain items significant to Gray's Elegy and the tour of Aquia Church. Additionally, an essay in which the student relates specific imagery in the poem to that which he/ she experiences in the churchyard will be written. This will provide insight into the experience as a whole.

Appendices:
none

Bibliography:
none

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