Thomas Gray
Thomas Gray (December 26, 1716 - July 30, 1771), English poet, classical scholar, and professor of History at Cambridge University.
Thomas Gray was born in London, and lived with his mother after she left his abusive father. He was educated at Eton College, and became a Fellow first of Peterhouse and later of Pembroke College, Cambridge. While a student, he met Horace Walpole, whom he accompanied on the Grand Tour. The two are believed to have had a homosexual affair.
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 was, besides William Collins (1721 - 1759), the predominant poetic figure of the middle decades of the 18th century. In 1757, he was offered the post of Poet Laureate, which he refused. In 1768 he succeeded Lawrence Brockett as Regis Professor of History at Cambridge, a sinecure.
Gray's "Elegy Written in a Country Church-yard" (1751), written in the churchyard of Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, has become a lasting contribution to the English heritage. It is still one of the most popular and most frequently quoted poems in the English language. Gray combined traditional forms and poetic diction with new topics and modes of expression and may thus be considered as a precursor of the romantic revival.
Famous Lines
From "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College":
...
To each his suff'rings: all are men,
Condemn'd alike to groan,
The tender for another's pain;
Th' unfeeling for his own.
Yet ah! why should they know their fate?
Since sorrow never comes too late,
And happiness too swiftly flies.
Thought would destroy their paradise.
No more; where ignorance is bliss,
'Tis folly to be wise.
From "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard":
...
For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,
Or busy housewife ply her evening care:
No children run to lisp their sire's return,
Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.
...
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Referenced By
1716 | 1716 in literature | 1720s BC | 1751 in literature | 1757 in literature | 1771 | 1771 in literature | 18th Century | 26 December | 26th December | 26th of December | 30 July | 30th July | Abraham Cowley | American poetry | André Chénier | André de Chénier | Antistrophe | British poetry | Cambridge University | Charles Victor de Bonstetten | Charlie Case | December 26 | December 26th | Edmund Gosse | Edward Moore | Eighteenth Century | Elegy | English poet | English poetry | English poets | Eton College | Famous English people | Famous gay lesbian and bisexual people | Famous gay lesbian or bisexual people | Horace Walpole | Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford | James Henry Leigh Hunt | John James Heidegger | Joseph Chénier | July 30 | July 30th | Laurence Brockett | Lawrence Brockett | Leigh Hunt | List of English language poets | List of English people | List of English poets | List of famous English people | List of famous gay, lesbian, and bisexual people | List of famous gay, lesbian, or bisexual people | List of famous gay, lesbian or bisexual people | List of famous gay lesbian and bisexual people | List of funny gay, lesbian or bisexual people | List of notable poets | List of people by name: Gr | List of people on stamps of the United Kingdom | List of poets | Marie-Joseph Blaise de Chénier | Marie Anne de Vichy-Chamrond, marquise du Deffand | Mark Akenside | Memento mori | Pembroke College, Cambridge | Peterhouse | Peterhouse, Cambridge | Peterhouse College, Cambridge | Poet Laureate | Poetry of the United States | Robert Dodsley | Samuel Rogers | Stoke Poges | The University of Cambridge | Thomas Chatterton | United States poetry | University of Cambridge | University of Cambridge/Peterhouse | William Collins (poet) | XVIII century | Year in Review 18th Century
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