[PDF] Selections From The Poems Of Thomas Gray eBook

Author : Thomas Gray
Publisher : Legare Street Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 24,71 MB
Release : 2023-07-18
Category : History
ISBN : 9781021804075

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This collection of poems by Thomas Gray, one of the foremost poets of the English Enlightenment, includes many of his most famous works, such as 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.' Edited by Augustus M. Van Dyke, a noted literary critic and poet in his own right, this volume provides readers with a comprehensive overview of Gray's life and work, as well as a deep appreciation for his talent and influence. Ideal for students and lovers of poetry alike. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Author : Thomas 1716-1771 Gray
Publisher : Legare Street Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 29,30 MB
Release : 2023-07-18
Category :
ISBN : 9781019761762

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This collection of poems by Thomas Gray, one of the foremost poets of the English Enlightenment, includes many of his most famous works, such as 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.' Edited by Augustus M. Van Dyke, a noted literary critic and poet in his own right, this volume provides readers with a comprehensive overview of Gray's life and work, as well as a deep appreciation for his talent and influence. Ideal for students and lovers of poetry alike. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Author : Thomas Gray, Sir
Publisher : Portable Poetry
Page : 38 pages
File Size : 13,72 MB
Release : 2014-11-21
Category :
ISBN : 9781785430213

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Thomas Gray was born on 26 December 1716 in Cornhill in London. His father was a scrivener and his mother a milliner. He was the fifth of twelve children and the only one to survive. With his father becoming mentally unwell and abusing his wife she left with Thomas in tow for a safer life. Thomas was sent to Eton, where two of his uncles worked, and although he was a delicate and scholarly child with an aversion to sports he found it suited him. Whilst there he made three close friends; Horace Walpole, son of the Prime Minister Robert Walpole; Thomas Ashton, and Richard West. The four prided themselves on their style, humour, and appreciation of beauty. They were called the "quadruple alliance." In 1734 Gray went up to Peterhouse, Cambridge. Although his family wished him to study law he spent most of his time 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 of Europe. It was Walpole who later helped publish Gray's poetry. Gray began to seriously write poems in 1742, mainly after his close friend Richard West died. He moved to Cambridge and began a programme of literary study. Gray was a brilliant bookworm, a quiet, abstracted, dreaming scholar. He became a Fellow first of Peterhouse, and later of Pembroke College where he had moved after the students at Peterhouse played a prank on him. It is thought that Gray began writing his masterpiece, the Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, in the graveyard of St Giles parish church in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, in 1742. After several years of leaving it unfinished, he completed it in 1750. When Gray sent it to Walpole, Walpole sent off the poem as a manuscript and it appeared in many magazines. Gray then published the poem himself and received the credit he was due. The poem was a literary sensation. Its reflective, calm and stoic tone was greatly admired, and despite the piracy it was imitated, quoted and translated into Latin and Greek. Gray spent most of his life as a scholar in Cambridge, and only travelled again later in life. Although he wrote little he is regarded by some as the foremost English-language poet of the mid-18th century. In 1757, he was offered the post of Poet Laureate, which he refused. Gray was extremely self-critical and feared failure. He once wrote that he feared his collected works would be "mistaken for the works of a flea." Gray came to be known as one of the "Graveyard poets" of the late 18th century, along with Oliver Goldsmith, William Cowper, and Christopher Smart. Gray perhaps knew these men, sharing ideas about death, mortality, and the finality of death. In 1768, after the death of Lawrence Brockett the Regius chair of Modern History at Cambridge, a sinecure which carried a salary of 400, fell vacant and Gray secured the position. Thomas Gray died on 30 July 1771 in Cambridge, and was buried beside his mother in the churchyard of Stoke Poges, the setting for his famous Elegy.

Author : Thomas Gray
Publisher :
Page : 86 pages
File Size : 23,92 MB
Release : 2015-06-29
Category : Poetry
ISBN : 9781330487730

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Excerpt from Selections From the Poems of Thomas Gray Thomas Gray was born in Cornhill, London, December 26, 1716. His father, Philip Gray, was a scrivener and broker, a man of violent temper and jealous disposition, with some symptoms of madness. He abandoned his family, and died abroad, leaving but little of his reputed wealth. His mother was Dorothy Antrobus Gray, most touchingly described by the poet, in the inscription placed on her tombstone, as "the tender mother of many children, one of whom alone had the misfortune to survive her." The other eleven children died in infancy. Mrs. Gray supported her son by keeping, with her sister, a millinery shop in London, and it was altogether through her care and industry that Gray enjoyed the advantages of education. In 1727 he was sent to Eton College, under the auspices of his two uncles, Robert and Thomas Antrobus, the former of whom was assistant to a master of Eton, and a fellow of Peter-house College, and the latter a fellow of King's College, Cambridge. At Eton he met Horace Walpole, son of the prime minister, with whom he formed a friendship that lasted, with a slight interruption, while they both lived, and that was of immense advantage to the future poet. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.