 On the difference between the obscure and the renowned in the poem , scholar David Cecil argued , " Death , he perceives , dwarfs human differences . There is not much to choose between the great and the humble , once they are in the grave . It may be that there never was ; it may be that in the obscure graveyard lie those who but for circumstance would have been as famous as Milton and Hampden . " However , death is not completely democratic because " if circumstances prevented them from achieving great fame , circumstances also saved them from committing great crimes . Yet there is a special pathos in these obscure tombs ; the crude inscriptions on the clumsy monuments are so poignant a reminder of the vain longing of all men , however humble , to be loved and to be remembered . " 
