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
life eye heart
Dear as the light that visits these sad eyes, Dear as the ruddy drops that warm my heart.
time eye soul
But knowledge to their eyes her ample page Rich with the spoils of time did ne'er unroll; Chill Penury repressed their noble rage, And froze the genial current of the soul.
time rich spoil
Rich with the spoils of time.
land charity philanthropy
Scatter plenty o'er a smiling land.
hope gay sunshine
Gay hope is theirs by fancy fed, Less pleasing when possest; The tear forgot as soon as shed, The sunshine of the breast.
life way
Along the cool sequestered vale of life, They kept the noiseless tenour of their way.
life moving purple
O'er her warm cheek, and rising bosom, move The bloom of young Desire and purple light of love.
soul poverty noble
Chill penury repress'd their noble rage, And froze the genial current of the soul.
children parenting play
Alas, regardless of their doom, the little victims play! No sense have they of ills to come nor care beyond today.
paradise destruction
Thought would destroy their paradise.
humble earth lap
Here rests his head upon the lap of earth, A youth to fortune and to fame unknown: Fair Science frown'd not on his humble birth, And Melancholy mark'd him for her own.
gratitude sweet fall
Sweet is the breath of vernal shower,/ The bee's collected treasure sweet,/ Sweet music's melting fall, but sweeter yet/ The still small voice of gratitude.
wise pain ignorance
To each his suff'rings; all are men, Condemn'd alike to groan,- The tender for another's pain, Th' unfeeling for his own. Yet ah! why should they know their fate, Since sorrow never comes too late, And happiness too swiftly flies? Thought would destroy their paradise. No more; where ignorance is bliss, 'T is folly to be wise.
lying romance flutes
Now as the Paradisiacal pleasures of the Mahometans consist in playing upon the flute and lying with Houris, be mine to read eternal new romances of Marivaux and Crebillon.