Thomas Gray

Thomas Gray (1716 - 1771 )

English poet and letter-writer

• For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,
  Or busy housewife ply her evening care:
  No children run to lisp their sire's return,
  Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.
  ...
  The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,
  And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
  Await alike the inevitable hour:
  The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
  ... [ll. 21-24, 33-36]
  
  • Source Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
    
    

• 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,
  'Tis folly to be wise.
  [ll. 91-100]
  
  • Source Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College

External links

• The Thomas Gray Archive, ed. by Alexander Huber