Thomas Gray
Thomas Gray
Thomas Graywas an English poet, letter-writer, classical scholar and professor at Pembroke College, Cambridge University. He is widely known for his Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, published in 1751...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth26 December 1716
voice wind joy
They hear a voice in every wind, And snatch a fearful joy.
hope father merit
No further seek his merits to disclose, Or draw his frailties from their dread abode (There they alike in trembling hope repose), The bosom of his Father and his God.
towers london midnight
Ye towers of Julius, London's lasting shame, With many a foul and midnight murder fed.
daughter power iron
Daughter of Jove, relentless power, Thou tamer of the human breast, Whose iron scourge and tort'ring hour The bad affright, afflict the best!
flames track mind
Her track, where'er the goddess roves, Glory pursue, and gen'rous shame, Th' unconquerable mind, and freedom's holy flame.
distance sunset dark
In the evening, I walked alone down to the Lake by the side of Crow Park after sunset and saw the solemn coloring of night draw on, the last gleam of sunshine fading away on the hilltops, the seep serene of the asters, and the long shadows of the mountains thrown across them, till they nearly touched the hithermost shore. At distance hear the murmur of many waterfalls not audible in the day-time. Wished for the moon, but she was dark to me and silent, hid in her vacant interlunar cave.
sweet home evening
And hie him home, at evening's close, To sweet repast and calm repose.
fancy breathe rings
Bright-eyed Fancy, hov'ring o'er, Scatters from her pictured urn Thoughts that breathe and words that burn.
men
Ah, tell them they are men!
truth fiction fairy
And truth severe, by fairy fiction drest.
country blood tyrants
Some village Hampden, that with dauntless breast The little tyrant of his fields withstood, Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest, Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood.
nature voice fire
E'en from the tomb the voice of nature cries, E'en in our ashes live their wonted fires.
book writing may
Any fool may write a most valuable book by chance, if he will only tell us what he heard and saw with veracity.
hate eye men
If the best man's faults were written on his forehead, he would draw his hat over his eyes.