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Thomas Gray (1) (1716–1771)

Author of Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

For other authors named Thomas Gray, see the disambiguation page.

125+ Works 842 Members 8 Reviews

About the Author

Author of An Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1747), Thomas Gray was born in London in 1716. He was educated at Eton, the inspiration for his An Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College (1747), and Cambridge. Except for a tour of the Continent, taken in part with friend Horace Walpole, he show more spent most of his life in Cambridge, where he became professor of history and modern languages in 1768. He died in 1768 and is buried at Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, the home of his mother and the inspiration for his famous elegy. (Bowker Author Biography) Author of An Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1747), Thomas Gray was born in London in 1716. He was educated at Cambridge and Eton, the inspiration for his An Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College (1747). Except for a tour of the Continent, taken in part with friend Horace Walpole, he spent most of his life in Cambridge, where he became a professor of history and modern languages in 1768. Gray was an extremely shy, almost reclusive person. His nature was scholarly, and he sought perfection in everything he did. He did not write much poetry, but what he did finish is of such high quality that he is sometimes considered the most important figure in English poetry between Pope and Blake. His Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751) has long been one of the supremely popular poems in the English language, rivaling any poem ever written for quotable lines. Gray's language is extremely formal, often archaic. Much influenced by the Greek and Roman poets, as well as Dryden, Gray later turned to Norse mythology for thematic material. The Progress of Poesy (1757) and The Bard (1757) contributed to the revival of the ode form, especially among the romantics. His letters have long been admired as among the best in the English language. Wordsworth regarded his Hymn to Adversity (1742) as a masterpiece. He died in 1768 and is buried at Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, the home of his mother and the inspiration for his famous elegy. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Works by Thomas Gray

Poems by Thomas Gray (1966) 56 copies
Selected Poems (1876) 27 copies
Poems (Everyman 20) (1996) 22 copies
Poems (1887) 20 copies
Poems of Thomas Gray (1946) 16 copies
Select Poems of Thomas Gray (1889) — Author — 12 copies
Poems by Mr. Gray (1973) 9 copies
Letters of Thomas Gray (1925) 9 copies
Thomas Gray's Elegy (2008) 8 copies
The works of Thomas Gray (2019) 8 copies
English Poems (2014) 7 copies
The Poetical Works (2019) 5 copies
Poems (1953) 4 copies
Thomas Gray (2015) 3 copies
GRAY POEMS PUBLISHED IN 1768 (1909) — Author — 2 copies
Poems of Thomas Gray (1961) 1 copy
English Odes 1 copy

Associated Works

One Hundred and One Famous Poems (1916) — Contributor, some editions — 1,932 copies
The Making of a Poem: A Norton Anthology of Poetic Forms (2000) — Contributor — 1,254 copies
Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (1995) — Contributor, some editions — 915 copies
The Nation's Favourite Poems (1996) — Contributor — 622 copies
A Treasury of the World's Best Loved Poems (1961) — Contributor — 524 copies
English Poetry, Volume I: From Chaucer to Gray (1910) — Contributor — 524 copies
The Literary Cat (1977) — Contributor — 241 copies
The Penguin Book of Homosexual Verse (1983) — Contributor — 236 copies
Eighteenth-Century English Literature (1969) — Author — 186 copies
Best Remembered Poems (1992) — Contributor — 157 copies
The Standard Book of British and American Verse (1932) — Contributor — 114 copies
The Everyman Anthology of Poetry for Children (1994) — Contributor — 72 copies
Elegy written in a country churchyard and other poems (2009) — Contributor — 42 copies
Masters of British Literature, Volume A (2007) — Contributor — 20 copies
100 Story Poems (1951) — Contributor — 20 copies
Poetry anthology (2000) — Contributor, some editions — 6 copies
Thames: An Anthology of River Poems (1999) — Contributor — 5 copies

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Reviews

folks, he wrote more than "Country Churchyard." give this special mind the time of day.
 
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julianblower | 1 other review | Jul 23, 2020 |
Reprint of what may once have been one of the most familiar poems in English from the 18th century. At a time when few could read in England, one of its most educated sons, and the companion of Horace Walpole during their youthful extended two and a half year "tour" of the Continent, Thomas Gray wrote a poem about seeing the headstone of a ploughman in an unfamiliar churchyard.

The poem is a meditation on human life, with its inevitable termination. Death is the leveler; it draws no distinctions, and indeed it absolutely removes all of them. In this reflection on stone, Gray's eyes settle on the Elegy of a humble rustic and how he wished to be remembered. The stone records, "He gave to misery all he had, a tear, / He gained from Heaven, 'twas all he wished, a friend."

So, we share a poem by one of the most educated men of 18th century Europe, gently igniting reflection about destiny and death, putting the play of assonance and alliteration to majestic use. The poem radically spreads actual majesty and grace to the lowly folk who never achieve fame and fortune. The poem gives full expression to humanitarian reality.

This throws posturing and the imbecility of empty pomp and pointless pretensions to power into stark relief. His treatment of the commoner was heroic and prescient -- twenty years after Gray's death in 1771, the French Revolution created the most robust middle class in the world with the freeing of the Serfs and land distribution. France became the most educated and most prosperous nation in the world. Sadly, recidivist tyrants subsidized a political takeover of the republic of France by a militarist "populist" thug. Napoleon was an out-of-control puppet who got millions of people killed.

But there was that ignition of consciousness. We owe much to Gray, his "friends", and his scholarship--the yearning for learning. And we are much cautioned by the vicious greed of a few wealthy puppet-masters who fancy they can control an armed puppet.
… (more)
 
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keylawk | 2 other reviews | Aug 4, 2019 |
 
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DWPress | May 10, 2019 |
I far preferred Gray's work to that of Collins. The latter's Eclogues were fine, but much of the rest of his poetry left me cold. I think it may be that he made many references to issues and people topical for him, of which I have neither knowledge nor interest. Gray, however, deals with more universal, timeless themes, which remain relevant despite the stretch of time since he wrote. I suppose it is no accident that Gray is the more remembered.
½
 
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Michael.Rimmer | Feb 19, 2019 |

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