Well, I must say, Thomas Gray is quite the guy. I have never seen a man so stuck up and pompous in his youth that grew to be so elegant with words. To give you a brief background on Gray, he attended Eton College, which he loved, and Cambridge University, which he hated. He frequently wrote to his friend from Eton about how proud his professors were and how idiotic his classmates were. After graduation, the next big event in Gray's life is the death of one of his Eton friends, Richard West. it was this death that inspired the writing of Gray's greatest work, but more on that later. Gray started his writing career shortly after the death of West. He was reclusive during this time, not traveling from his home in Cambridge until later in life. Three years before his death, he took a job as the chair of modern history at Cambridge University, the school he used to despise. Thomas Gray died in 1771. He published thirteen poems that amount to less than a thousand lines. Despite not being the most productive poet, he earned a place in history.
Now for Gray's masterpiece: "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard." This monster of a poem well exceeds a hundred lines and all of them hold significance to the message of the poem. The poem speaks of many corpses long buried that held the fire of the muse and true talent as poets and writers. However, unlike a traditional elegy, which stresses the immortality of a poet in his works, this elegy focuses on the permanence of death the impossibility of immortality. Personally, I find this absolutely hilarious. A poem about impermanence and death immortalized its creator and earned him a place in history. This is the most ironic situation I have ever seen surrounding a piece of poetry, and I am always one to appreciate an ironic situation. The poem was most likely written in response to the death of Gray's childhood friend from Eton, Richard West. This would explain the defeatist and dark tone of the poem. West was the one reader Gray could turn to and never expect biting criticism. I have to say, I love the fact that all of Thomas Gray's poems have regular meter. Free verse just does not hold the same charm as the steady flow of meter. Rhyme scheme also supports the flow of the poem. It keeps the reader's attention the way a piece of music would.
Gray showed great variety in his works. One example that I find simple, yet effective is "Satire on the Heads of Houses." I mentioned before that Thomas Gray hated Cambridge University. To elaborate, he spoke of his superiors as excessively proud and his classmates as excessively stupid. In this poem, Gray focuses on his superiors. In thirty eight lines, he explains how a certain head of house displeases him. He then follows this voice of displeasure with many, many rhythmic, rhyming lines that describe each and every other head of house as being the same as the one he mentioned. Each line is different, but means the same thing. Not only is Gray roasting the administration of Cambridge, he is also flaunting his large vocabulary and talent as a writer in order to assert his superiority.
In contrast to his disdain towards Cambridge, Thomas Gray adored Eton College, his secondary school. He expresses this love in "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College" (for simplicity's sake, I will refer to this work as "Ode" from here on out). This one hundred line poem can be evenly divided into two parts with two different effects and subjects. The first half of the poem is nostalgic. Gray looks back on a time when life was more simple. He remembers when he could play, love, and get into trouble without a care in the world. In the second half, however, the poem turns to a darker subject. Gray begins to mourn the future students' loss of innocence. He speaks of the tragedy that comes with facing the trials of life. He concludes by pleading that the children be kept ignorant of the dark truth for as long as possible. He wishes for their happiness to last as long as possible.
Well, Thomas Gray was quite the writer. His works are as varied as his emotions, so it should come as no surprise that they coincide so well. Researching this man was a pleasure. I still cannot get over the irony of "Elegy" being his most famous poem. Anyway, this guy has style. I recommend you at least read "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" and look up some of the back story behind it.You will see where I am coming from. If you are ever in the mood to read him, here is a link to a complete collection of what I see as every single scrap of work he ever had anything to do with. http://www.thomasgray.org/texts/poems.shtml It was hard for me to find a place to start with all of these works to sort through, but I'm glad I picked the ones I did. I highly recommend you read them, as well as Gray's biography for a thought-provoking experience.
'Tis folly to be wise. ~ Thomas Gray, "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College"
Now for Gray's masterpiece: "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard." This monster of a poem well exceeds a hundred lines and all of them hold significance to the message of the poem. The poem speaks of many corpses long buried that held the fire of the muse and true talent as poets and writers. However, unlike a traditional elegy, which stresses the immortality of a poet in his works, this elegy focuses on the permanence of death the impossibility of immortality. Personally, I find this absolutely hilarious. A poem about impermanence and death immortalized its creator and earned him a place in history. This is the most ironic situation I have ever seen surrounding a piece of poetry, and I am always one to appreciate an ironic situation. The poem was most likely written in response to the death of Gray's childhood friend from Eton, Richard West. This would explain the defeatist and dark tone of the poem. West was the one reader Gray could turn to and never expect biting criticism. I have to say, I love the fact that all of Thomas Gray's poems have regular meter. Free verse just does not hold the same charm as the steady flow of meter. Rhyme scheme also supports the flow of the poem. It keeps the reader's attention the way a piece of music would.
Gray showed great variety in his works. One example that I find simple, yet effective is "Satire on the Heads of Houses." I mentioned before that Thomas Gray hated Cambridge University. To elaborate, he spoke of his superiors as excessively proud and his classmates as excessively stupid. In this poem, Gray focuses on his superiors. In thirty eight lines, he explains how a certain head of house displeases him. He then follows this voice of displeasure with many, many rhythmic, rhyming lines that describe each and every other head of house as being the same as the one he mentioned. Each line is different, but means the same thing. Not only is Gray roasting the administration of Cambridge, he is also flaunting his large vocabulary and talent as a writer in order to assert his superiority.
In contrast to his disdain towards Cambridge, Thomas Gray adored Eton College, his secondary school. He expresses this love in "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College" (for simplicity's sake, I will refer to this work as "Ode" from here on out). This one hundred line poem can be evenly divided into two parts with two different effects and subjects. The first half of the poem is nostalgic. Gray looks back on a time when life was more simple. He remembers when he could play, love, and get into trouble without a care in the world. In the second half, however, the poem turns to a darker subject. Gray begins to mourn the future students' loss of innocence. He speaks of the tragedy that comes with facing the trials of life. He concludes by pleading that the children be kept ignorant of the dark truth for as long as possible. He wishes for their happiness to last as long as possible.
Well, Thomas Gray was quite the writer. His works are as varied as his emotions, so it should come as no surprise that they coincide so well. Researching this man was a pleasure. I still cannot get over the irony of "Elegy" being his most famous poem. Anyway, this guy has style. I recommend you at least read "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" and look up some of the back story behind it.You will see where I am coming from. If you are ever in the mood to read him, here is a link to a complete collection of what I see as every single scrap of work he ever had anything to do with. http://www.thomasgray.org/texts/poems.shtml It was hard for me to find a place to start with all of these works to sort through, but I'm glad I picked the ones I did. I highly recommend you read them, as well as Gray's biography for a thought-provoking experience.
'Tis folly to be wise. ~ Thomas Gray, "Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College"
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