Thomas Gray is an English poet, writer, scientist, and professor. He became famous thanks to the "Elegy written in a rural cemetery", published in 1751. Thomas Gray published only a few poems, as he was a very self-critical poet, although already quite famous. He was offered the honorary title of “Poet Laureate, ” but he refused.
Biography
Thomas Gray was born December 26, 1716 in Cornhill, London. His father, Philip Gray, was a scribe; mother, Dorothy Antrobus, a hatter. Their family had 12 children, Thomas was born fifth. After his mother left her mentally unstable husband, Gray stayed with her.
Education
His mother paid for his studies at Eton College, where his two uncles, Robert and William Antrobus, worked. Robert became the first teacher of the future writer and instilled in him a love of botany. William was a mentor to Thomas. Gray called these times happy. This is evidenced by "Ode to the mind from afar at Eton College." Thomas Gray read a lot. He did not live in college, but in his uncle's house. At Eton College, the boy had three friends: Horace Walpole - the son of the Prime Minister, Thomas Ashton and Richard West - the son of the Lord Chancellor of Ireland. The guys were called the “quadruple union”.
In 1734, Thomas Gray went to Peterhouse College in Cambridge, but here he was very bored. He read classical and modern literature and played the harpsichord for relaxation.
In 1738, he accompanied his old school friend Walpole on his Great Tour of Europe, but his friends had a falling out in Tuscany because Horace wanted to attend fashion parties, but Thomas did not. They reconciled after a few years, and it was Walpole who helped Gray publish the first verses.
Creative activity
Thomas Gray took up seriously writing works in 1742 when his close friend Richard West passed away. In memory of him, he wrote a sonnet, "On the death of Mr. Richard West."
The writer became a research assistant first at Peterhouse and then at Pembroke College. Thomas Gray moved to Pembroke after Peterhouse's students made fun of him.
In 1757, Thomas was offered the position of poet-laureate, but he refused. He was very self-critical, so during his lifetime he published only 13 verses. At the end of the 18th century, Gray became known as a poet with gloomy thoughts of mortality.
According to the writer's letters, Thomas Gray had a playful sense of humor. He does not propagate ignorance, but with nostalgia reflects on a young age when he was allowed to be ignorant.
Gray traveled extensively throughout Britain in places such as Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Scotland, and especially in the Lake District (he described the observations in his Journal of Visiting the Lake District in 1769) in search of picturesque landscapes and ancient monuments.
Gray combined traditional forms and poetic diction with new themes and ways of expression. He is considered the classically focused predecessor of a romantic rebirth.
History of writing "Rural Cemetery"
In 1742, Thomas Gray began working on his masterpiece, Elegy Written in a Rural Cemetery, at the burial ground of St. Giles' Parish Church in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire. He completed it in 1750. The work became a literary sensation when it was published by Robert Dodsley in February 1751. It is still one of the most popular and often cited works in English. Everyone liked the "Elegy" because of the beauty of writing and skill. Thomas Gray in Rural Cemetery addresses topics such as death and the afterlife. It is assumed that Gray found inspiration for his poem by visiting the grave of Aunt Mary Antrobus. She was buried in a cemetery near the churchyard of St. Giles, which Thomas visited with his mother. Subsequently, Gray himself will be buried here.
The poet wrote an ode "On the death of a beloved cat drowned in a vessel with goldfish" in memory of the cat Horace Walpole.
Thomas Gray: An Analysis of the Rural Cemetery
The work of the famous English writer and poet was translated into Russian by the talented poet V.A. Zhukovsky, who retained all the subtleties and ideas of the Elegy, as well as the mysterious meaningfulness.
"Elegy written in a rural cemetery" - a reflection on life and human fate in the face of the eternal. The protagonist of the work is a poet; the place of action is a rural cemetery. In the Elegy, the everyday happy life of the peasant and the lying life of the rich and officials are contrasted. The poet believes that among ordinary people there were geniuses, just their material condition and poverty did not allow them to reveal themselves to the world and talents remained unrecognized.
From the lines of the work of Thomas Gray, you can understand that he believes that the poet should also have a subtle and sensitive soul. In the translation of Zhukovsky, the reader also notes the romantic nature of the poet. In the work, the opposition of being and non-being is carried out, between which the main character is located, as well as dull everyday life and ideal opportunities open to any person.
Attention is drawn to the fact that in the end, everything is equal before death, and neither money, nor communications, nor social status can have any effect on this.
The work created a very beautiful and mysterious atmosphere: a hut and a peasant immersed in the dusk, the path to which can only be illuminated by the light of a bright moon. At this time, deadly silence reigns in the cemetery itself.
