English Language · English Literature

Given below are two statements: one is labelled as Assertion A and the other is labelled as Reason R: Assertion A: In his 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard', Thomas Gray asserts that while poverty 'stifled' the potential of rural villagers to become figures like 'mute inglorious Miltons,' it also served a defensive moral purpose by preventing them from engaging in the severe corruption and 'guilty' bloodletting associated with political power. Reason R: This specific thematic reasoning was a mandatory stylistic constraint enforced by the Licensing Act of 1737, which empowered the Lord Chamberlain to license all elegiac poetry to ensure that depictions of the 'rude forefathers' suppressed any potential for political satire against Robert Walpole's government. In light of the above statements, choose the most appropriate answer from the options given below: