Editing Thomas Gray

{{Short description|English poet and classical scholar (1716–1771)}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2012}}
{{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see [[:Template:Infobox writer/doc]] -->
| name             = Thomas Gray
| image            = PortraitThomasGrayByJohnGilesEccart1747to1748.jpg
| caption          = Portrait by [[John Giles Eccardt]], 1747–1748
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1716|12|26|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Cornhill, London]], England
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1771|7|30|1716|12|26|df=yes}}
| death_place      = [[Cambridge]], [[Cambridgeshire]], England
| alma_mater       = [[Eton College]]<br>[[Peterhouse, Cambridge]]
| occupation       = Poet, [[historian]]
}}
[[File:Plaque marking Thomas Gray's birthplace at 39 Cornhill, London.JPG|thumb|Plaque marking Thomas Gray's birthplace at 39 [[Cornhill, London]]]]
'''Thomas Gray''' (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, letter-writer, and [[classics|classical]] scholar at [[Cambridge University]], being a fellow first of [[Peterhouse]] then of [[Pembroke College, Cambridge|Pembroke College]]. He is widely known for his ''[[Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard]],'' published in 1751.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Gray-English-poet|title=Thomas Gray {{!}} English poet|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=2019-12-12}}</ref>

Gray was a [[Self-criticism|self-critical]] writer who published only 13 poems in his lifetime, despite being very popular. He was even offered the position of [[Poet laureate|Poet Laureate]] in 1757 after the death of [[Colley Cibber]], though he declined.<ref>Gray, Thomas. ''The poetical works of Thomas Gray: containing his poems and correspondence, with memoirs of his life and writings''. Vol. 1, Printed for Harding, Triphook, and Lepard, 1825. ''Nineteenth Century Collections Online'', link.gale.com/apps/doc/ZIGUXF727905683/NCCO?u=maine_orono&sid=bookmark-NCCO&xid=4d437883&pg=59. Accessed 8 Dec. 2022.</ref>

==Early life and education==
Thomas Gray was born in [[Cornhill, London]]. His father, Philip Gray, was a [[scrivener]] and his mother, Dorothy Antrobus, was a [[milliner]].<ref name="Broadview Press">{{cite book|title=The Broadview Anthology of British Literature|publisher=Broadview Press|pages=1516–1517|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UGxegEzVNJEC|edition=Second|editor=Joseph Black}}</ref> He was the fifth of twelve children, and the only one to survive infancy.<ref name="ODNB">John D. Baird, 'Gray, Thomas (1716–1771)', ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'' (Oxford University Press, 2004) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11356 Accessed 21 February 2012]</ref> An 1803 newspaper article including a biography of Gray suggests that Gray almost died in infancy due to suffocation from a fullness of blood. However, his mother “ventured to open a vein with her own hand, which instantly removed the paroxysm,” saving his life.<ref>{{Cite news |date=13 August 1803 |title=Biography of Thomas Gray |volume=3 |work=The Port-Folio |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/89478153 |access-date=6 December 2022|id={{ProQuest|89478153}} }}</ref> He lived with his mother after she left his abusive and mentally unwell father.<!-- NOTE:  Commenting out this extraordinary medical claim from a non-medical source.  Please find a better reference if restored, ideally one that explains the circumstances. --><!--Gray's mother once saved his life by opening one of his veins with her hands.--><ref>{{cite book|title=The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes|chapter-url=http://www.bartleby.com/220/0601.html|edition=Volume 10|editor=A. W. Ward & A. R. Waller|access-date=15 April 2014|chapter=Gray's Family and Life}}</ref>

Gray's mother paid for him to go to [[Eton College]], where his uncles Robert and William Antrobus worked. Robert became Gray's first teacher and helped inspire in Gray a love for [[botany]] and observational science. Gray's other uncle, William, became his tutor.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes|chapter-url=http://www.bartleby.com/220/0601.html|edition=Volume 10|editor=A. W. Ward & A. R. Waller|access-date=15 April 2014|chapter=Gray's family and life}}</ref> He recalled his schooldays as a time of great happiness, as is evident in his "[[s:Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College|Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College]]". Gray was a delicate and scholarly boy who spent his time reading and avoiding [[sport|athletics]]. He lived in his uncle's household rather than at college. He made three close friends at Eton: [[Horace Walpole]], son of the Prime Minister [[Robert Walpole]]; Thomas Ashton; and Richard West, son of another [[Richard West (Lord Chancellor of Ireland)|Richard West]] (who was briefly [[Lord Chancellor of Ireland]]). The four prided themselves on their sense of style, sense of humour, and appreciation of beauty. They were called the "quadruple alliance".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes|url=http://www.bartleby.com/220/0601.html|edition=Volume 10|editor=A. W. Ward & A. R. Waller|access-date=15 April 2014}}</ref> Gray’s nickname in the “Quadruple Alliance” was Orozmades, “the Zoroastrian divinity, who is mentioned in [[Nathaniel Lee|Lee’s]] ''[[The Rival Queens]]'' as a ‘dreadful god’ who from his cave issues groans and shrieks to predict the fall of [[Babylon]].”<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Haggerty |first=George E. |title=Men in Love: Masculinity and Sexuality in the Eighteenth Century |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1999 |location=New York |pages=}}</ref>

In 1734, Gray went up to [[Peterhouse, Cambridge]].<ref>{{acad|GRY734T2|Thomas Gray}}</ref> He found the curriculum dull. He wrote letters to friends listing all the things he disliked: the masters ("mad with Pride") and the Fellows ("sleepy, drunken, dull, illiterate Things"). Intended by his family for the law, he spent most of his time as an undergraduate reading classical and modern literature, and playing [[Antonio Vivaldi|Vivaldi]] and [[Domenico Scarlatti|Scarlatti]] on the [[harpsichord]] for relaxation. 

In 1738, he accompanied his old school friend Walpole on his [[Grand Tour]] of [[Europe]], possibly at Walpole's expense. The two fell out and parted in [[Tuscany]] because Walpole wanted to attend fashionable parties and Gray wanted to visit all the [[antiquities]]. They were reconciled a few years later. It was Walpole who later helped publish Gray's poetry. When Gray sent his most famous poem, "Elegy", to Walpole, Walpole sent off the poem as a manuscript and it appeared in different magazines. Gray then published the poem himself and received the credit he was due.<ref name="Broadview Press"/>

==Writing and academia==
Gray began seriously writing poems in 1742, mainly after the death of his close friend Richard West, which inspired "Sonnet on the Death of Richard West". He moved to Cambridge and began a self-directed programme of literary study, becoming one of the most learned men of his time.<ref>Gilfillan, George, [[dissertation]] in ''[http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/11254/pg11254.txt The Poetical Works of Johnson, Parnell, Gray and Smollett]'' 1855, kindle ebook {{ASIN|B004TQHGGE}}</ref> He became a [[Fellow]] first of [[Peterhouse, Cambridge|Peterhouse]], and later of [[Pembroke College, Cambridge]]. According to college tradition, he left Peterhouse for Pembroke College after being the victim of a practical joke played by undergraduates. Gray is supposed to have been afraid of fire, and had attached a bar outside his window to which a rope could be tied. After being woken by undergraduates with a fire made of shavings, Gray climbed down the rope but landed in a tub of water which had been placed below his window.<ref name="walker">{{cite book |last=Walker|first=Thomas Alfred|title=Peterhouse|year=1935|publisher=W. Heffer and Sons Ltd|location=Cambridge}}</ref>

Gray spent most of his life as a scholar in Cambridge, and only later in his life did he begin travelling again. Although he was one of the least productive poets (his collected works published during his lifetime amount to fewer than 1,000 lines), he is regarded 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 so self-critical and fearful of failure that he published only thirteen poems during his lifetime. He once wrote that he feared his collected works would be "mistaken for the works of a flea." Walpole said that "He never wrote anything easily but things of Humour."<ref>Walpole, ''Letters'', vi. 206</ref> 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 and sublimity of death.

In 1762, the [[Regius Professor|Regius chair]] of [[Regius Professor of Modern History (Cambridge)|Modern History]] at Cambridge, a [[sinecure]] which carried a salary of £400, fell vacant after the death of [[Shallet Turner]], and Gray's friends lobbied the government unsuccessfully to secure the position for him. In the event, Gray lost out to [[Lawrence Brockett]], but he secured the position in 1768 after Brockett's death.<ref>[[Edmund Gosse|Edmund William Gosse]], ''Gray'' (London: Macmillan, 1902), [https://books.google.com/books?id=bZ2FNDVX9JcC&pg=PT133 p. 133] at books.google.com</ref>

== Poems ==

* ''Ode on the Spring'' (written in 1742)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://poemanalysis.com/ode-on-spring-by-thomas-gray-poem-analysis/|title=Analysis of Ode on Spring by Thomas Gray|date=2016-12-29|website=Poem Analysis|access-date=2019-12-12}}</ref>
* ''On the Death of Richard West'' (written in 1742)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thomasgray.org/cgi-bin/display.cgi?text=sorw|title=Thomas Gray Archive : Texts : Poems : Sonnet [on the Death of Mr Richard West]|website=www.thomasgray.org|access-date=2019-12-12}}</ref>
* ''Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Goldfishes'' (written in 1747)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thomasgray.org/cgi-bin/display.cgi?text=odfc|title=Thomas Gray Archive : Texts : Poems : Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes|website=www.thomasgray.org|access-date=2019-12-12}}</ref> 
* ''Ode to a Distant Prospect of Eton College'' (written in 1747 and published anonymously)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thomasgray.org/cgi-bin/display.cgi?text=odec|title=Thomas Gray Archive : Texts : Poems : Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College|website=www.thomasgray.org|access-date=2019-12-12}}</ref>
* ''Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard'' (written between 1745 and 1750)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thomasgray.org/cgi-bin/display.cgi?text=elcc|title=Thomas Gray Archive : Texts : Poems : Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard|website=www.thomasgray.org|access-date=2019-12-12}}</ref>
* ''The Progress of Poesy: A Pindaric Ode'' (written between 1751 and 1754)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://spenserians.cath.vt.edu/TextRecord.php?action=GET&textsid=34496|title=Thomas Gray: The Progress of Poesy. A Pindaric Ode.|website=spenserians.cath.vt.edu|access-date=2019-12-12}}</ref>
* ''The Bard: A Pindaric Ode'' (written between 1755 and 1757)<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.english.upenn.edu/~mgamer/Etexts/gray.bard.html|title=The Bard|website=www.english.upenn.edu|access-date=2019-12-12}}</ref> 
* ''The Fatal Sisters: An Ode'' (written in 1761)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/works/o4986-w0250.shtml|title=Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive / Works / The Fatal Sisters: An Ode. (Thomas Gray)|website=www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org|access-date=2019-12-12}}</ref>

=="Elegy" masterpiece==
{{main|Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard}}
It is believed by a number of writers that Gray began writing arguably his most celebrated piece, the ''[[Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard]]'', in the graveyard of St Giles' parish church in [[Stoke Poges]], [[Buckinghamshire]] (though this claim is not exclusive), in 1742. After several years of leaving it unfinished, he completed it in 1750<ref>[http://www.thomasgray.org/cgi-bin/display.cgi?text=tgal0173 Letter, dated 12 June 1750], in which Gray sent the completed poem to Horace Walpole. Thomas Gray website.</ref> (see [[elegy]] for the form). The poem was a literary sensation when published by [[Robert Dodsley]] in February 1751 (see [[1751 in poetry]]). Its reflective, calm, and [[stoicism|stoic]] tone was greatly admired, and it was pirated, imitated, quoted, and translated into Latin and Greek. It is still one of the most popular and frequently quoted poems in the English language.<ref>Elegy written in a country church-yard: with versions in the Greek, Latin, German, Italian, and French languages, Nabu Press (repr. 2010.)</ref>

In 1759, during the [[Great Britain in the Seven Years War|Seven Years War]], before the [[Battle of the Plains of Abraham]], British General [[James Wolfe]] is said to have recited it to one of his officers, adding, "I would prefer being the author of that Poem to the glory of beating the French to-morrow."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gosse |first1=Edmund |author-link1=Edmund Gosse |year=2011 |orig-year=1882 |title=Gray |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LE8D5zs2qTcC&q=gray+elegy+prefer+%22being+the+author+of+that+poem%22&pg=PA145 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=145 |isbn=9781108034517 |access-date=24 December 2016 }}</ref>
[[File:Gray's Monument.JPG|thumb|right|Monument, in [[Stoke Poges]], inscribed with Gray's ''[[Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard|Elegy]]'']]
The ''Elegy'' was recognised immediately for its beauty and skill. It contains many phrases which have entered the common English lexicon, either on their own or as quoted in other works. These include:

* "The Paths of Glory" (the title of a 1957 anti-war [[Paths of Glory|movie]] about World War I, produced by and starring [[Kirk Douglas]], and directed by [[Stanley Kubrick]], based on a novel of the same name by Humphrey Cobb).
* "Celestial fire"
* "Some mute inglorious Milton"
* "Far from the Madding Crowd" (the title of a [[Far from the Madding Crowd|novel]] by [[Thomas Hardy]], filmed several times)
*"Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, and waste its sweetness on the desert air," is quoted often, including by Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon) in the film ''[[Bull Durham]]''
* "The unlettered muse"
* "Kindred spirit"
[[File:William Blake - The Poems of Thomas Gray, Design 105, "Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard." - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|[[William Blake]]'s illustration for Thomas Gray]]
"Elegy" contemplates such themes as death and afterlife. These themes foreshadowed the upcoming Gothic movement. It is suggested that perhaps Gray found inspiration for his poem by visiting the grave-site of his aunt, Mary Antrobus. The aunt was buried at the graveyard by the St. Giles' churchyard, which he and his mother would visit. This is the same grave-site where Gray himself was later buried.<ref>{{cite news|last=Miller|first=John J.|title=Meditation on Mortality|url=https://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887323716304578482950460324738|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|access-date=15 April 2014}}</ref>

{{anchor|Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat}}
Gray also wrote light verse, including ''[[s: Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes|Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes]]'', a [[mock-heroic]] elegy concerning [[Horace Walpole]]'s cat. Even this humorous poem contains some of Gray's most famous lines. Walpole owned two cats: Zara and Selima. Scholars allude to the name Selima mentioned in the poem.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pattison |first=Robert |date=1979 |title=Gray's 'Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat': A Rationalist's Aesthetic |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/50/article/513635 |journal=University of Toronto Quarterly |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=156–165 |doi=10.3138/utq.49.2.156 |s2cid=162651483 |issn=1712-5278}}</ref> After setting the scene with the couplet "What female heart can gold despise? What cat's averse to fish?", the poem moves to its multiple proverbial conclusion: "a fav'rite has no friend", "[k]now one false step is ne'er retrieved" and "nor all that glisters, gold". (Walpole later displayed the fatal china vase (the tub) on a pedestal at his house in [[Strawberry Hill House|Strawberry Hill]], where it can still be seen).

Gray's surviving letters also show his sharp observation and playful sense of humour. He is well known for his phrase, "where [[wikt:ignorance is bliss|ignorance is bliss]], 'tis folly to be wise," from ''[[s: Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College|Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College]]''. It has been asserted that the Ode also abounds with images which find "a mirror in every mind".<ref>Gilfillan, George, dissertation in ''The Poetical Works of Johnson, Parnell, Gray and Smollet'' 1855, kindle ebook 1855 {{ASIN|B004TQHGGE}}</ref> This was stated by [[Samuel Johnson]] who said of the poem, "I rejoice to concur with the common reader ... The Church-yard abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind, and with sentiments to which every bosom returns an echo".<ref name="Broadview Press"/> Indeed, Gray's poem follows the style of the mid-century literary endeavour to write of "universal feelings."<ref>{{cite book|title=The Broadview Anthology of British Literature|publisher=Broadview Press|pages=1516–1517|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UGxegEzVNJEC|editor=Joseph Black}}</ref> Samuel Johnson also said of Gray that he spoke in "two languages". He spoke in the language of "public" and "private" and according to Johnson, he should have spoken more in his private language as he did in his "Elegy" poem.<ref>{{cite web|title=Biography: Thomas Gray|date=26 May 2021|url=http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/thomas-gray|publisher=Poetry Foundation}}</ref>

==Forms==
[[File:The hours zoom in 4.jpg|thumb|''[[The Hours (picture)|The Hours]]'' by [[Maria Cosway]], an illustration to Gray's poem ''Ode on the Spring'', referring to the lines "Lo! where the rosy-bosomed Hours, Fair Venus' train, appear"]]
Gray considered his two [[Pindar|Pindaric odes]], ''The Progress of Poesy'' and ''[[The Bard (poem)|The Bard]]'', as his best works. Pindaric odes are to be written with fire and passion, unlike the calmer and more reflective Horatian odes such as ''Ode on a distant Prospect of Eton College''. ''The Bard'' tells of a wild Welsh poet cursing the Norman king [[Edward I of England|Edward I]] after his conquest of Wales and prophesying in detail the downfall of the [[House of Plantagenet]]. It is melodramatic, and ends with the bard hurling himself to his death from the top of a mountain.

When his duties allowed, Gray travelled widely throughout Britain to places such as Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Scotland and most notably the Lake District (see his ''Journal of a Visit to the Lake District'' in 1769) in search of [[picturesque]] landscapes and ancient monuments. These elements were not generally valued in the early 18th century, when the popular taste ran to [[classicism|classical]] styles in architecture and literature, and most people liked their scenery tame and well-tended. The [[Gothic fiction|Gothic]] details that appear in his ''Elegy'' and ''The Bard'' are a part of the first foreshadowing of the [[Romantic movement]] that dominated the early 19th century, when [[Wordsworth|William Wordsworth]] and the other [[Lake poets]] taught people to value the picturesque, the sublime, and the Gothic.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kalter|first=Barrett|year=2003|title=DIY Gothic: Thomas Gray and the Medieval Revival|journal=ELH|volume=70|issue=4|pages=989–1019|issn=0013-8304|jstor=30029910|doi=10.1353/elh.2004.0006|s2cid=143552252}}</ref> Gray combined traditional forms and poetic diction with new topics and modes of expression, and may be considered as a classically focused precursor of the [[Romanticism|romantic]] revival.{{citation needed|date=November 2012}}

Gray's connection to the [[Romantic poets]] is vexed. In the prefaces to the 1800 and 1802 editions of Wordsworth's and [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]]'s ''[[Lyrical Ballads]]'', Wordsworth singled out Gray's "Sonnet on the Death of Richard West" to exemplify what he found most objectionable in poetry, declaring it was
<blockquote>"Gray, who was at the head of those who, by their reasonings, have attempted to widen the space of separation betwixt prose and metrical composition, and was more than any other man curiously elaborate in the structure of his own poetic diction."<ref name="Abrams">{{cite book |author-link=M.H. Abrams |last=Abrams |first=M. H. |title=The Norton Anthology of English Literature |volume=2 |edition=Fourth |publisher=[[W. W. Norton & Company]] |location=New York |year=1979 |page=167 |isbn=0-393-95039-5 |display-authors=etal|title-link=Norton Anthology of English Literature }}</ref></blockquote> Gray wrote in a letter to West, that "the language of the age is never the language of poetry."<ref name="Abrams" />

==Death==
[[File:Graygrave.jpg|thumb|right|Plaque adjacent to the tomb of Thomas Gray in Stoke Poges Churchyard]]
Gray died on 30 July 1771 in Cambridge, and was buried beside his mother in the churchyard of the [[Church of St Giles, Stoke Poges]], the reputed (though disputed) setting for his famous ''Elegy''.<ref>Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'', 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Location 18533). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.</ref> His grave can still be seen there. A monument sculpted by [[John Bacon (sculptor, born 1740)|John Bacon]] was also erected in [[Westminster Abbey]] soon after his death.<ref>Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis</ref>

== Scholarly Reception ==
Today, Gray remains a topic of academic discussion. Some scholars analyze his work for his use of language and inspiration from Greek classics and Norse poetry.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=WILLIAMS |first=KELSEY JACKSON |title=Thomas Gray and the Goths: Philology, Poetry, and the Uses of the Norse Past in Eighteenth-Century England |date=2014 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24541144 |journal=The Review of English Studies |volume=65 |issue=271 |pages=694–710 |doi=10.1093/res/hgu024 |jstor=24541144 |issn=0034-6551|hdl=1893/24289 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Other scholars, such as George E. Haggerty, focus on Gray's various relationships with other men, examining his letters and poetry for instances of "male-male love" and "same-sex desire."<ref name=":0" />

==Honours==
*Gray's biographer [[William Mason (poet)|William Mason]] erected a monument to him, designed by [[John Bacon (sculptor, born 1740)|John Bacon]] the Elder, in [[Poets' Corner]] at [[Westminster Abbey]] in 1778.<ref>[http://www.thomasgray.org/cgi-bin/view.cgi?collection=gallery&image=place0031 Monument to Thomas Gray], Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey.</ref>
*[[John Penn (writer)|John Penn "of Stoke"]] had a memorial to Gray built near St Giles' churchyard and engraved with extracts from the "Elegy".
*A plaque in Cornhill, London marks his birthplace.

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* ''The Poems of Thomas Gray, William Collins, Oliver Goldsmith'', ed. R. Lonsdale (1969; repr. 1976)
* Thomas Gray, ''The Complete Poems ...'', ed. H. W. Starr, J. R. Hendrickson (1966; repr. 1972)
* Thomas Gray, ''Correspondence of Thomas Gray'', ed. P. Toynbee, L. Whibley (3 vols., 1935; rev. H. W. Starr 1971)
* Robert L. Mack, ''Thomas Gray. A Life'' (2000)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/thomasgraylife00mack|title=Thomas Gray: A Life|last=Mack|first=Robert L.|year=2000|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-08499-3|url-access=registration}}</ref>
* A. L. Sells, ''Thomas Gray His Life and Works'' (1980)
* [[R. W. Ketton-Cremer]], ''Thomas Gray'' (1955)
* David Cecil, ''Two Quiet Lives'' (1948) [on Dorothy Osborne; Thomas Gray]
* D. Capetanakis, 'Thomas Gray and Horace Walpole', in ''Demetrios Capetanakis A Greek Poet in England'' (1947), pp.&nbsp;117–124.
* P. van Tieghem, ''La poesie de la nuit et des tombeaux en Europe au XVIII siecle'' (1922)
*Fleming, James. "Thomas Gray's Commonplace Book." [[The Book Collector]] 73 (no4) Winter, 2024: 631-634.
* Haggerty, George E. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=yAAGk91C9GQC Men in Love: Masculinity and Sexuality in the Eighteenth Century]''. Columbia University Press, 1993.
* {{cite EB9 |wstitle = Thomas Gray |volume= XI |last= Carruthers|first= Robert |author-link= Robert Carruthers| pages=77-78 |short=1 }}
* {{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Gray, Thomas |volume= 12 |last= Tovey|first= Duncan Crookes |author-link= |pages=392-395 |short=1}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Wikisource author}}
;Digital collections
* {{StandardEbooks|Standard Ebooks URL=https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/thomas-gray}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=4626| name=Thomas Gray}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Thomas Gray}}
* {{Librivox author |id=536}}
* [http://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/authors/pers00039.shtml Thomas Gray] at the [http://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/ Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)]

;Physical collections
* [http://faculty.winthrop.edu/kosterj/ENGL201/Gray.htm ''Thomas Gray (1716–1771)''] Jo Koster.  Literary analysis and biography with [[c:Category:William Blake's illustrations to Thomas Gray's Poems|illustrations]]. In the preceding link there are only four illustrations of Gray's poetry, but there are a total of six [[William Blake]] did for some of Gray's most popular poems.
* [http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/C18/biblio/gray.html ''Selected Bibliography: Thomas Gray (1716–1771)''] Alan T. McKenzie and B. Eugene McCarthy
*[http://emlo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/blog/?catalogue=thomas-gray The Correspondence of Thomas Gray] in [http://emlo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/home EMLO]

;Biographical information
* [http://www.thomasgray.org/ ''Thomas Gray Archive''] Alexander Huber, ed., [[University of Oxford]]
* [http://www.luminarium.org/eightlit/gray/ ''Luminarium: Thomas Gray''] Life, extensive works, essays, study resources
* [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9037806/Thomas-Gray ''Thomas Gray – Britannica Online Encyclopedia'']

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Thomas}}
[[Category:1716 births]]
[[Category:1771 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century English poets]]
[[Category:18th-century English male writers]]
[[Category:18th-century English letter writers]]
[[Category:People from the City of London]]
[[Category:Writers from London]]
[[Category:Alumni of Peterhouse, Cambridge]]
[[Category:English literary critics]]
[[Category:Fellows of Pembroke College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Fellows of Peterhouse, Cambridge]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:Sonneteers]]
[[Category:Burials in Buckinghamshire]]
[[Category:English male poets]]
[[Category:British humorous poets]]
[[Category:English male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Regius Professors of History (Cambridge)]]