"Essays on the Poets."—De Quincey.
"A Paladin of Philanthropy."—Dobson.
THOMAS GRAY
(1716–1771)
After studying at Eton and at Cambridge University, Gray made the customary tour of the Continent and then settled down to a retired life among his books. His circle of friends was small but intellectual. He spent most of his life at Cambridge, reading and thinking.
In disposition he was very reserved, seldom revealing his feelings. As he was sensitive and also rather melancholy it was natural that he should find few intimates. Always a student, he none the less applied himself to those topics only which attracted him, neglecting such portions of the subject as did not appeal to him, so that although one of the most learned men of his time he did not receive public recognition until his appointment as regius professor of history and modern languages at Cambridge, three years before his death.
The Age of Classicism, in which he lived, was repugnant to him; its formal standards, as expressed especially by the poetry of Pope, offended his fastidious taste, which was charmed by the wild beauty of nature and longed for freedom of expression and avoidance of convention in literary art.
He was the forerunner of the Romantic spirit. Had he lived forty years later he would have been far more productive; the poetry of Wordsworth, Byron, and the rest of that dazzling group of poets would have strengthened and enthused him.