Gray, Thomas

Thomas (1716-1771), an English poet. He was born in London. His father was a scrivener, but was indolent and neglected his wife and children. The mother supported the family by keeping a millinery shop. Of twelve children Thomas was the only one who lived to grow up. He entered Eton at the age of eleven, where his uncles, Robert and William Antrobus, were assistant masters. He spent several years at Cambridge, but left without taking a degree. He had intended to study law, but gave it up to travel with Horace Walpole. His letters while on the continent are of great interest, although they were not intended for publication. After two years abroad Gray returned to Cambridge. He spent his time reading Greek prose and verse and in writing, but was very slow to publish. In 1747 his first production to appear in print was published. It was the Ode to Eton College. Gray never wrote for money, but for his own pleasure and that of his friends. He published when friends and booksellers could persuade him to do so. In 1753 Walpole prepared a handsome edition of six of Gray's poems with drawings for head and tail pieces and initial letters by Bentley. Gray insisted that this be published under the title, "Designs by Mr. R. Bentley for Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray." Gray's poems betoken a man of delicate thought and refined taste, fond of learning and art. His fame rests almost solely on his Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, beginning:

We are not to suppose from its title that Gray's Elegy was actually written in a thoughtful moment in the graveyard of Stoke Pogis, for it was "seven years a making." He wrote over and over, smoothing, polishing, adding, and taking away. It is one of the finest short poems in the English language. It has been translated into German, French, Italian, Portuguese, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.

See Stoke Pogis; Wolf

The Elegy has exercised an influence on all the poetry of Europe, from Denmark to Italy, from France to Russia. With the exception of certain works of Byron and Shakespeare, no English poem has been so widely admired and imitated abroad.--Gosse.