Letters of Thomas Gray: Two Volumes in One |
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Page 6
... poetry , and brings Eton to my view . Consider me very seriously here in a strange country , inhabited by things that call them- selves doctors and masters of arts ; a coun- try flowing with syllogisms and ale , where Horace and Virgil ...
... poetry , and brings Eton to my view . Consider me very seriously here in a strange country , inhabited by things that call them- selves doctors and masters of arts ; a coun- try flowing with syllogisms and ale , where Horace and Virgil ...
Page 9
... poetry have been included in the later editions of Mr. Gray's poetical works , it has not been always thought necessary to give them at large in this edition of his " Letters : " an exception to this rule has however been made in favour ...
... poetry have been included in the later editions of Mr. Gray's poetical works , it has not been always thought necessary to give them at large in this edition of his " Letters : " an exception to this rule has however been made in favour ...
Page 11
... poetry ? they call it idleness , but it is surely the most enchanting thing in the world , " ac dulce otium et pæne omni negotio pulchrius . " I am , dear sir , yours while I am Christ Church , May 24 , 1736 . IV . TO MR . WEST . R. W. ...
... poetry ? they call it idleness , but it is surely the most enchanting thing in the world , " ac dulce otium et pæne omni negotio pulchrius . " I am , dear sir , yours while I am Christ Church , May 24 , 1736 . IV . TO MR . WEST . R. W. ...
Page 15
... poetry , " like a nauseous weed away ; " che- rish its sweets in your bosom ; they will serve you now and then to correct the dis- gusting sober follies of the common law , misce stultitiam consiliis brevem , dulce est desipere in loco ...
... poetry , " like a nauseous weed away ; " che- rish its sweets in your bosom ; they will serve you now and then to correct the dis- gusting sober follies of the common law , misce stultitiam consiliis brevem , dulce est desipere in loco ...
Page 16
Two Volumes in One Thomas Gray. which no poet had more in my opin- ion . The reason I choose so melancholy a kind of poesie , is because my low spirits and constant ill health ( things in me not imagina- ry , as you surmise , but too ...
Two Volumes in One Thomas Gray. which no poet had more in my opin- ion . The reason I choose so melancholy a kind of poesie , is because my low spirits and constant ill health ( things in me not imagina- ry , as you surmise , but too ...
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Common terms and phrases
acquaintance Adieu admire antiquity antistrophe appear beautiful believe body called Cambridge Caractacus castle church Dodsley duke Dunciad Elegy Elfrida Elidurus eyes Florence Genoa give Gothic Gray Gray's Greek hand head hear heard Herculaneum hill honour hope house of York imagine Ingleborough Italy journey Keswick king lady lake late least letter live London lord lord Bolingbroke Mason Massinissa mean miles mind Monody mountains Naples never night obliged opinion passed perhaps Peterhouse Pindaric pleasure poem poetry pope Pray rest Rheims rise river road rock Rome round scene seems seen side Skiddaw sort spirits sure Syphax Tacitus taste tell Teverone thing THOMAS GRAY thought Tibullus tion town trees vale valley verses walk WALPOLE WEST WHARTON wish wood write
Popular passages
Page 147 - And that so lamely and unfashionable, That dogs bark at me, as I halt by them...
Page 74 - I do not remember to have gone ten paces without an exclamation, that there was no restraining : Not a precipice, not a torrent, not a cliff, but is pregnant with religion and poetry.
Page 74 - There are certain scenes that would awe an atheist into belief, without the help of other argument. One need not have a very fantastic imagination to see spirits there at noon-day : You have Death perpetually before your eyes, only so far removed, as to compose the mind without frighting it.
Page 128 - I had discovered a thing very little known, which is, that in one's whole life one can never have any more than a single mother. You may think this is obvious, and (what you call) a trite observation. You are a green gosling ! I was at the same age (very near) as wise as you, and yet I never discovered this (with full evidence and conviction I mean) till it was too late. It is thirteen years ago, and seems but as yesterday, and every day I live it sinks deeper into my heart...
Page 197 - I shall continue good part of the summer); and having put an end to a thing, whose beginning you have seen long ago, I immediately send it you.* You will, I hope, look upon it in the light of a thing with an end to it ; a merit that most of my writings have wanted, and are like to want, but which this epistle I am determined shall not want, when it tells you that I am ever Yours.
Page 22 - My comfort amidst all this is", that i have, at the distance of half a mile, through a green lane, a forest (the vulgar call it a common) all my own, at least as good as so, for I spy no human thing in it but myself.
Page 10 - The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow : there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.
Page 63 - ... almost perpendicular, at the bottom of which rolls a torrent, that sometimes tumbling among the fragments of stone that have fallen from on high, and sometimes precipitating itself down vast descents with a noise like thunder, which is still made greater by the echo from the mountains on each fide, concurs to form one of the most solemn, the most romantic, and the most astonishing scenes I ever beheld.
Page 5 - When you have seen one of my days, you have seen a whole year of my life ; they go round and round like the blind horse in the mill, only he has the satisfaction of fancying he makes a progress and gets some ground ; my eyes are open enough to see the same dull prospect, and to know that, having made four-and-twenty steps more, I shall be just where I was.
Page 203 - I have but one bad way left to escape the honour they would inflict upon me; and therefore am obliged to desire you would make Dodsley print it immediately (which may be done in less than a week's time) from your copy, but without my name, in what form is most convenient for him, but on his best paper and character; he must correct the press himself, and print it without any interval between the stanzas, because the sense is in some places continued beyond them ; and the title must be, — Elegy,...