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Thomas Gray

File:PortraitThomasGrayByJohnGilesEccart1747to1748.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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Thomas Gray

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English poet and classical scholar (1716–1771)

OverviewAI-generated

Thomas Gray was a male poet from the United Kingdom whose professional work period began in 1742. He was born on December 26, 1716, and died on July 30, 1771. His literary output includes works such as *Elegia Grayiana Græce*, *The poems of Thomas Gray*, *Poetical miscellanies*, *The poetical works of Thomas Gray*, and *The nunnery*.

Various databases record different counts for his works, with Open Library listing 248, Crossref noting 5, and Europeana Sparql citing 11. His writings include lines such as "What sorrow was, thou bad'st her know, And from her own she learned to melt at others' woe." and "Iron sleet of arrowy shower Hurtles in the darkened air."

In music contexts, Thomas Gray is associated with genres including alternative, alternative rock, british, contemporary folk, and folk. His name appears in 372 other encyclopedia articles, and he has 544 listeners with a playcount of 1326 on Last.fm.

Synthesized by Vinony from 22 facts across 8 sources: Wikidata, Last.fm, Crossref, Wikiquote, MusicBrainz, Open Library, Europeana Sparql, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Person · Open Library

Born
1716
Died
1771
Works
248

Top works

  • Elegia Grayiana Græce
  • The poems of Thomas Gray
  • Poetical miscellanies
  • The poetical works of Thomas Gray
  • The nunnery

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person
Gender
Male
Origin
United Kingdom
Active from
1968-06-13
alternativealternative rockbritishcontemporary folkfolkfolk rock

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners
544
Total plays
1,326

Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, classical scholar and professor at Cambridge University. Thomas Gray was born in Cornhill, London, the son of an exchange broker and a milliner. He was the fifth of 12 children and the only child in his family to survive infancy. He lived with his mother after she left his abusive father. He was educated at Eton College where his uncle was one of the masters. He recalled his schooldays as a time of great happiness <a href="https

via Last.fm · Thomas Gray

Quotes

  • Daughter of Jove, relentless power, Thou tamer of the human breast, Whose iron scourge and tort'ring hour The bad affright, afflict the best!
  • What sorrow was, thou bad'st her know, And from her own she learned to melt at others' woe.
  • In glittering arms and glory dressed, High he rears his ruby crest. There the thundering strokes begin, There the press and there the din; Talymalfra's rocky shore Echoing to the battle's roar.
  • Where his glowing eye−balls turn, Thousand banners round him burn. Where he points his purple spear, Hasty, hasty Rout is there, Marking with indignant eye Fear to stop and shame to fly. There Confusion, Terror's child, Conflict fierce and Ruin wild, Agony that pants for breath, Despair and honourable Death.
  • Now my weary lips I close; Leave me, leave me to repose!
  • Iron sleet of arrowy shower Hurtles in the darkened air.

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Wikidata facts

Instance of
human
Given name
Thomas
Family name
Gray
Gender
male
Place of birth
London
Place of death
Cambridge
Occupation
writer
Position held
professor
Educated at
Eton College
Languages spoken
English language
Native language
English language
Image
PortraitThomasGrayByJohnGilesEccart1747to1748.jpg
Show 12 more facts
Commons Creator page
Thomas Gray
topic's main category
Category:Thomas Gray
Commons category
Thomas Gray
date of birth
1716-00-00
date of death
1771-00-00
has works in the collection
National Gallery of Art
writing language
English language
start of work period
1742-00-00
ethnic group
English people
place of burial
Buckinghamshire
Sources (3)

via Wikidata · CC0

Works in European collections

11 objects attributed to Thomas Gray, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana

~15 min read

Encyclopedic overview

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 classical scholar at Cambridge University, being a fellow first of Peterhouse then of Pembroke College. He is widely known for his Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, published in 1751. Gray was a self-critical writer who published only 13 poems in his lifetime, despite being very popular. He was even offered the position of Poet Laureate in 1757 after the death of Colley Cibber, though he declined.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Thomas Gray” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (6)