 On the basis of some 2000 examples , one commentator has argued that “ Gray ’ s Elegy has probably inspired more adaptations than any other poem in the language ” . It has also been suggested that parody acts as a kind of translation into the same tongue as the original , something that the printing history of some examples seems to confirm . One of the earliest , John Duncombe ’ s “ An evening contemplation in a college ” ( 1753 ) , frequently reprinted to the end of the 18th century , was included alongside translations of the Elegy into Latin and Italian in the 1768 and 1775 Dublin editions and 1768 Cork edition of Gray ’ s works . In the case of the American The Political Passing Bell : An Elegy . Written in a Country Meeting House , April 1789 ; Parodized from Gray for the Entertainment of Those Who Laugh at All Parties by George Richards ( d.1804 ) and published from Boston MA , the parody was printed opposite Gray 's original page by page , making the translation to the political context more obvious . 
