Thomas Gray
(1716–1771)

Although Thomas Gray produced precious little poetry during his lifetime, his scant output was more a result of his perfectionism than it was of any lack of ideas. Gray was a scholar with interests ranging from literature to art to science and beyond. Had he lived in an era more compatible with the romantic yearnings of his soul, he might, as the poet Matthew Arnold suggested, have been capable of far greatest things.

Gray was born in the Cornhill section of London. Gray himself suffered from convulsions that forced his mother on at least one occasion to open a vein in his head to relieve pressure on his brain. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge and, after completing his studies, traveled through Europe with his friend Horace Walpole.

At the end of three years, Gray returned to England and lived for a time with his mother and sister in the village of Stoke Poges. It was in this sleepy hamlet during the summer of 1742 that he wrote his first important poems—"On the Spring," "On a Distant Prospect of Eton College," and "Hymn to Adversity." It was also around this time that Gray penned his most famous poetic work, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard." A copy of the elegy that he sent to Walpole accidentally fell into the hands of a dishonest editor. Ultimately it was retrieved, though only after a great struggle, which adds a touch of irony to Gray's having refused to accept payment for the poem when at last it was published.

After reaching the age of 30, Gray lived an increasingly quiet country life, becoming somewhat of a hermit. A confirmed bachelor, he busied himself with books and experimented with new poetic forms, while conducting private studies in classical literature at Cambridge. His work of this period, which includes the odes "The Bard" (1757) and "The Descent of Odin" (1761), reflects his love of Celtic and Norse mythology and his interest in history and language. In 1771, while planning a visit to a friend in Switzerland, the poet suffered a violent attack of gout and died on July 30. Seven years after his death, a monument honoring him was erected in Westminster Abbey.

Although Gray was a less energetic poet, the small body of works that he left behind is notable for its juxtaposing of established forms and novel sentiments. His "Elegy Written in the Country Churchyard," in particular, skillfully combines the neoclassical style of his own century with the Romantic ideals of the next one.

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