Poets - 09 - Thomas Gray (1716-1771)

Thomas Gray who secured a distinctive place in 18th century English literature, primarily because of one poem ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’, was born in London, in 1716. His father was a broker there.

He had his primary education in a famous grammar school in London, and next he entered the University of Cambridge. The life he spent there has been described as ‘silent, calm, and reserved, dedicated to studies entirely’. Gray excelled in Latin and Greek and later became a professor there.

It is reported that like some professors of his day, he rarely gave a lecture. Rather than teaching, he spent his time advising students and exploring the libraries where he led them to discover the beauties of English, Scottish, Welsh, and Norse literature.

Gray wrote poetry but was not eager to publish them. In 1758, on the insistence of a scholarly friend his first three poems were published anonymously. In 1751, Gray allowed his ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’ to be printed only because he had heard that an imperfect version was about to be published by somebody, without his consent.

Because he felt that a scholarly gentleman should not accept payment for writing poetry, he let his publisher keep all the profits.

In 1757 he was offered the position of poet laureate (poet to the royal family) a great honour of the day. He published several more small volumes of poetry before his death in 1771, that took place in London.

Thomas Gray’s poetic production was small, because he composed each poem with painstaking care phrasing and rephrasing until he felt that all was perfect. Despite the fact that his language is a little artificial, his poems are clear and genuine expressions of deep feeling.

The churchyard mentioned in his Elegy was really Stoke Pogis in Buckingham shire where his friend Richard West was buried.

This great poem was begun few days after the death of Richard West and Gray took nine years to complete it and bring it to the present perfection.

The ‘Elegy’ remains his best known and beloved poem. The great scholar of the age Dr Samuel Johnson wrote ‘The churchyard abounds with images which finds a mirror in every mind and, with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo.’ Indeed the Elegy is one of the most famous poems and had been translated into many languages.

The four lines often quoted from the Elegy are as follows.

“Full many a gem of purest ray serene;
The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.”

Thomas Gray was laid to rest in the churchyard Stoke Pogis, Buckinghamshire, England.

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