Count that Day Lost – Bridging Text & Context

“What do we live for, if not to make life less difficult for each other?”  (George Eliot)

How is this quotation related to the poem Count That Day Lost?

Read the following biography, and then explain its connection to the poem.

George Eliot was born in 1819 in Victorian England, an era which was characterized by vast differences among social classes. While the upper nobility enjoyed many privileges, the lower classes suffered from severe poverty.

Eliot, who was actually born as Mary Ann Evans, was one of the leading writers of that age. She used the male pen-name George to conceal her gender. She knew, that if people knew she was a woman, her poems wouldn’t be taken seriously. Eliot was very critical of the gaps in her society, blaming the upper classes for the horrible conditions most ordinary men and women faced. She believed that people should act responsibly and morally, and thus tried to use her poetry to educate her readers to do so.