Thomas Gray Biography
English Poet famous for Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
Thomas Gray wrote few poems, but his Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard has become one of the most famous and often quoted in the English language. Gray is considered the greatest of the "Graveyard Poets."
The "Graveyard Poets" wrote reflective works dealing largely with mortality of humankind. They are regarded as the forerunners of Gothic novelists.
Early Life and Education of Thomas Gray
Thomas Gray was born on December 26, 1716, in Cornhill, London. His brothers and sisters died young, and his mentally unstable father tormented his mother. Her hat-making business helped pay for her son's education at the prestigious Eton College and Cambridge University.
At 22, he began a tour of France, Switzerland and Italy with his friend Horace Walpole, the novelist. Later he made trips through the wilder parts of Great Britain. He loved romantic scenery, legends and ancient monuments.
The Young Poet
Gray began writing some of his best poems at age 25, when his emotions were stirred by the death of his friend Richard West. Aged 31, he published his first poem, the Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College. His masterpiece, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, appeared four year later. In Elegy, Gray reminds his readers that everyone shares the fate of the forgotten villagers buried in the churchyard. At the same time, in a direct and simple way, the elegy expresses a societal conflict, between the advantages of education and the values of simple rural life.
He also wrote lighter pieces such as "Ode on a Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes."
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
This famous poem, often quoted in the English language, was a literary sensation when published in February 1751 and has made a lasting contribution to English literature. Its reflective, calm and stoic tone was greatly admired, and it was translated into Latin and Greek. Before the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, British General James Wolfe is said to have recited it to his officers, adding: "Gentlemen, I would rather have written that poem than take Quebec tomorrow".
Last Years
Gray never married and led a quiet, scholarly life at Cambridge. At 51 he became a professor of modern history. At the age of 54, Gray died on July 30, 1771, in Cambridge and was buried beside his mother in the graveyard of Stoke Poges, which he made famous in his classic poem Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. His grave can still be seen there today. There is a plaque in Cornhill that marks the place where he was born.
Works by Thomas Gray
- Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College, 1747
- "Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes", 1748
- Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, 1751
- Six Poems by Mr. T. Gray, 1753
- Odes, 1757
- Poems by Mt. T. Gray, 1768
Sources:
Goring, Rosemary (editor), Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994
McGovern, Una (editor), Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap, 2002
Thomas Gray, English Poet
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