Poor Better or Equal?

In contrast to what Hannah said, I think that Gray really was saying the poor are better in his poem. While he continues to insist that everyone will be on the same level when they die, Gray talks about how futile gathering riches and trophies for yourself is. While the upper-class are able to pursue academic interests and art, it is often only for the purpose of getting a "storied urn" or "animated bust" which does nothing to immortalize the soul. I see this poem as an elevation of the poor over the current situation in London because the poor are innocent and more appreciative of nature and Nature. Gray discredits the upper-class for pursuing riches in life, and even though the poor may be uneducated, their potential for artistic ability is more pure and better because the poor do not think about achieving status. The state of London is an ambitious, fortune-driven cultural center. As the Romantics would have it, a return to nature allows a poet to discover himself without the influences of the outside world. Gray focuses on the self through human nature, emphasizing that the poor are able to know themselves better than the artists in London without societal rules and regulations imposed upon them.