Thomas Gray
Born	December 26, 1716(1716-12-26) Cornhill, London, England
Died	July 30, 1771 Cambridge, England
Occupation	Poet, historian

Thomas Gray (December 26, 1716 – July 30, 1771), was an English poet, classical scholar and professor at Cambridge University. Events 1481 - Battle of Westbrook - Holland defeats troops of Utrecht. Year 1716 ( MDCCXVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Cornhill is a ward, and one of the principal streets of the City of London, the historic nucleus of modern London. London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Events 1419 - First Defenestration of Prague. 1502 - Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off Year 1771 ( MDCCLXXI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a The city of Cambridge (ˈkeɪmbrɪdʒ is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland Employment is a Contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. A poet is a person who writes Poetry. Etymology From the Ancient greek: ποιέω, poieō: "I make or compose" See also History An historian is an individual who studies and writes about History, and is regarded as an Authority on it Events 1481 - Battle of Westbrook - Holland defeats troops of Utrecht. Year 1716 ( MDCCXVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Events 1419 - First Defenestration of Prague. 1502 - Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off Year 1771 ( MDCCLXXI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland A poet is a person who writes Poetry. Etymology From the Ancient greek: ποιέω, poieō: "I make or compose" The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University) located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the

Early life and education

He was born in Cornhill, London, the son of an exchange broker and a milliner. Cornhill is a ward, and one of the principal streets of the City of London, the historic nucleus of modern London. He was the fifth of eight children and the only child in his family to survive infancy. He lived with his mother after she left his abusive father. He was educated at Eton College where his uncle was one of the masters. Eton College, or just Eton, is a world-famous British Independent school for boys founded in 1440 by King Henry VI. He recalled his schooldays as a time of great happiness, as is evident in his Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College. Gray was a delicate and naturally scholarly boy who spent his time reading great literature and avoiding athletics. It was probably fortunate for the young and sensitive Gray that he was able to live in his uncle’s household rather than at college. He made three close friends at Eton: Horace Walpole, son of Prime Minister Robert Walpole, Thomas Ashton, and Richard West. Horace Walpole 4th Earl of Orford ( 24 September, 1717 &ndash 2 March, 1797) more commonly known as Horace Walpole, was a politician Robert Walpole 1st Earl of Orford, KG, KB, PC (26 August 1676 &ndash 18 March 1745 known before 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a Richard West may refer to Richard West 7th Baron De La Warr and 4th Baron West (1430–1475 Richard West (Lord Chancellor of Ireland The four of them prided themselves on their sense of style, their sense of humour, and their appreciation of beauty.

In 1734, Gray went to Cambridge. The city of Cambridge (ˈkeɪmbrɪdʒ is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England At first he stayed in Pembroke College, moving to Peterhouse, but he found the curriculum dull. He wrote letters to his friends listing all the things he disliked: the masters ("mad with Pride") and the Fellows ("sleepy, drunken, dull, illiterate Things. ") Supposedly he was intended for the law, but in fact he spent his time as an undergraduate reading classical and modern literature and playing Vivaldi and Scarlatti on the harpsichord for relaxation. In 1738 he accompanied his old school-friend Walpole on his Grand Tour, probably at Walpole's expense. The Grand Tour was the traditional travel of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means They fell out and parted in Tuscany because Walpole wanted to attend fashionable parties and Gray wanted to visit all the antiquities. Tuscany (Toscana is a region in Italy. It has an area of 22990 km² and a population of about 3 However, they were reconciled a few years later.

Writing and academia

He began seriously writing poems in 1742, mainly after his close friend Richard West died. He moved to Cambridge and began a self-imposed programme of literary study, becoming one of the most learned men of his time, though he claimed to be lazy by inclination. He became a Fellow first of Peterhouse, and later of Pembroke College, Cambridge. A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade Peterhouse is the oldest college in the University of Cambridge. Pembroke College is a college of the University of Cambridge, home to over six hundred students and fellows, and is the third oldest of the colleges It is said that the change of college was the result of a practical joke. Terrified of fire, he had installed a metal bar by his window on the top floor of the Burrough’s building at Peterhouse, so that in the event of a fire he could tie his sheets to it and climb to safety. Peterhouse is the oldest college in the University of Cambridge. One night undergraduates decided to play a prank and shouted “fire”. Gray climbed down from his window, landing in a barrel of water placed beneath.

Gray spent most of his life as a scholar in Cambridge, and only later in his life did he begin travelling again. Although he was one of the least productive poets (his collected works published during his lifetime amount to less than 1,000 lines), he is regarded as the predominant poetic figure of the mid-18th century. The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini / Common Era numbering system In 1757, he was offered the post of Poet Laureate, which he refused. Year 1757 ( MDCCLVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a A Poet Laureate is a Poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for State occasions and other government events In 1768, he succeeded Lawrence Brockett as Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, a sinecure. Year 1768 ( MDCCLXVIII) was a Leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Lawrence Brockett (1724&ndash1768 was the youngest of five sons born to Lawrence Brockett and Anne Clarke Regius Professor of Modern History is one of the senior professorships in History at Cambridge University. A sinecure (from Latin sine, without and cura, care means an office which requires or involves little or no responsibility labour or active service

Gray was so self critical and fearful of failure that he only published 13 poems during his lifetime, and once wrote that he feared his collected works would be "mistaken for the works of a flea. " Walpole said that "He never wrote anything easily but things of Humour. "

"Elegy" masterpiece

It is believed that Gray wrote his masterpiece, the Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, in the graveyard of the church in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire in 1750. Stoke Poges is a Village and Civil parish within South Bucks district in Buckinghamshire, England. Buckinghamshire (abbreviated Bucks) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The poem was a literary sensation when published by Robert Dodsley in February 1751 and has made a lasting contribution to English literature. Robert Dodsley ( 1703 - September 23, 1764) was an English Bookseller and miscellaneous writer Its reflective, calm and stoic tone was greatly admired, and it was pirated, imitated, quoted and translated into Latin and Greek. It is still one of the most popular and most frequently quoted poems in the English language. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Before the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, British General James Wolfe is said to have recited it to his officers, adding: "Gentlemen, I would rather have written that poem than take Quebec tomorrow". The Battle of the Plains of Abraham, also known as the Battle of Quebec, was a pivotal battle in the French and Indian War, the North American theatre of the General James Wolfe ( 2 January, 1727 &ndash 13 September, 1759) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms Quebec City ( French: Ville de Québec, or simply Québec) (kwɨˈbɛk or /keˈbɛk/ is the Capital of the Canadian province The poem's famous depiction of an "ivy-mantled tow'r" could be a reference to the early-mediaeval St. Laurence's Church in Upton, Slough. Saint Laurence's Church is one of three churches in the modern Parish of Upton-cum-Chalvey, and is the oldest building in the borough of Slough Once a small Village, Upton is now a Suburb of Slough in Berkshire, having been one of the villages that developed into the town

Monument inscribed with the Elegy in Stoke Poges

The Elegy was recognised immediately for its beauty and skill, and the Churchyard Poets are so named because they wrote in the shadow of Gray's great poem. The "Graveyard Poets" were a number of pre-Romantic English poets of the 18th century characterised by their gloomy meditations on mortality 'skulls and coffins epitaphs It contains many outstanding phrases which have entered the common English lexicon, either on their own or as referenced in other works. A few of these include:

• "Far from the madding crowd"

• "The paths of glory"

• "Celestial fire"

• "The unlettered muse"

• "Kindred spirit"

Gray also wrote light verse, such as Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes, a mock elegy concerning Horace Walpole's cat. Horace Walpole 4th Earl of Orford ( 24 September, 1717 &ndash 2 March, 1797) more commonly known as Horace Walpole, was a politician After setting the scene with the couplet "What female heart can gold despise? What cat's averse to fish?", the poem moves to its multiple proverbial conclusion: "a fav'rite has no friend", "[k]now one false step is ne'er retrieved" and ""nor all that glisters, gold". (Walpole later displayed the fatal china vase on a pedestal at his house in Strawberry Hill. ) Gray’s surviving letters also show his sharp observation and playful sense of humour.

He is also well known for his statement that "where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise," from his 1742 Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College.

Forms

The Hours by Maria Cosway, an illustration to Gray's poem Ode on the Spring, referring to the lines "Lo! where the rosy-bosomed Hours, Fair Venus' train, appear"

Gray himself considered his two Pindaric odes, The Progress of Poesy and The Bard, his best works. The Hours is an original stipple engraving produced by the master of the technique Francesco Bartolozzi (1725-1815 Maria Cosway (1760-1838 was an Anglo- Italian Artist, who is also known as the love interest of Thomas Jefferson while Pindar (ˈpɪndɚ (or Pindarus, Greek:) (probably born 522 BC in Cynoscephalae a village in Boeotia; died 443 BC in Argos) was an Ancient Pindaric odes are written with great fire and passion, unlike the calmer and more reflective Horatian odes such as Ode on a distant Prospect of Eton College. The Bard tells of a wild Welsh poet cursing Edward I after the conquest of Wales and prophesying in detail the downfall of the House of Plantagenet. Edward I (17 June 1239 – 7 July 1307 popularly known as Longshanks, was a King of England who achieved historical fame by conquering large parts of Wales and almost The House of Plantagenet (planˈtadʒɪnɪt also called the House of Anjou, or the First Angevin dynasty, was originally a noble It is very melodramatic, and ends with the bard hurling himself to his death from the top of a mountain.

When his duties allowed, Gray travelled widely throughout Britain to places like Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Scotland in search of picturesque scenery and ancient monuments. These things were not generally valued in the early eighteenth century, when the popular taste ran to classical styles in architecture and literature and people liked their scenery tame and well-tended. Some people have seen Gray’s writings on this topic, and the Gothic details that appear in his Elegy and The Bard as the first foreshadowing of the Romantic movement that dominated the early nineteenth century, when William Wordsworth and the other Lake poets had taught people to value the picturesque, the sublime, and the Gothic. Gothic fiction (sometimes referred to as Gothic horror) is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. Romanticism is a complex artistic literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Gray combined traditional forms and poetic diction with new topics and modes of expression and may be considered as a classically focussed precursor of the romantic revival. Romanticism is a complex artistic literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the

Interestingly, however, Gray's connection to the Romantic poets is vexed. Romanticism largely began as a reaction against the prevailing Enlightenment ideals of the day In the prefaces to the 1800 and 1802 editions of Wordsworths' and Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth singled out Gray's "Sonnet on the Death of Richard West" to exemplify what he found most objectionable in poetry, declaring it was "Gray, who was at the head of those who, by their reasonings, have attempted to widen the space of separation betwixt prose and metrical composition, and was more than any other man curiously elaborate in the structure of his own poetic diction. Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( 21 October 1772 &ndash 25 July 1834) was an English Poet, Critic and philosopher Lyrical Ballads with a Few Other Poems is a collection of poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, first published in 1798 it is typically "^[1] Indeed, it was Gray who had written, in a letter to West, that "the language of the age is never the language of poetry. "^[2]

Death

Tomb of Thomas Gray in Stoke Poges Churchyard

Gray died July 30, 1771 in Cambridge and was buried beside his mother in the churchyard of Stoke Poges, the setting for his famous Elegy. Events 1419 - First Defenestration of Prague. 1502 - Christopher Columbus lands at Guanaja in the Bay Islands off Year 1771 ( MDCCLXXI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Stoke Poges is a Village and Civil parish within South Bucks district in Buckinghamshire, England. His grave can still be seen there today. There is a plaque in Cornhill, marking the place where he was born.

Notes

1. ^ Abrams, M. Meyer (Mike Howard Abrams (born July 23[[ 912]] is an American Literary critic, known for works on Romanticism H. et al, The Norton Anthology of English Literature Volume 2, Fourth Edition, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 1979, p. The Norton Anthology of English Literature is an anthology of English literature published by the W W W Norton & Company is an American book publishing company that has remained independent since its founding 167
2. ^ ibid.

External links

• The Thomas Gray Archive Alexander Huber, ed.
• Luminarium: Thomas Gray Life, extensive works, essays, study resources
• Works by Thomas Gray at Project Gutenberg
• Thomas Gray - Britannica Online Encylopedia
• Thomas Gray (1716-1771) Jo Koster. Project Gutenberg, abbreviated as PG, is a volunteer effort to Digitize, archive and distribute Cultural works Literary analysis and biography with illustrations (including six William Blake did for some of Gray’s most popular poems)
• Selected Bibliography: Thomas Gray (1716-1771) Alan T. William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827 was an English poet, painter, and Printmaker. McKenzie and B. Eugene McCarthy