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The poems (1969)

Gray, Thomas (1716-1771)

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[section]
 1. 
1 [Lines Spoken by the Ghost of John Dennis at the Devil Tavern]
 2. 
2 [Translation from Statius,
 3. 
3 [Lines on Beech Trees]
 4. 
4 [Translation from Tasso,
 5. 
5 [Translation from Dante,
 6. 
6 [Translation from Propertius,
expand section7. 
7 Agrippina, a Tragedy
 8. 
8 [Translation] from Propertius,
 9. 
9 Ode on the Spring
 10. 
10 Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College
 11. 
11 Sonnet [on the Death of Mr Richard West]
 12. 
12 Ode to Adversity
 13. 
13 [Hymn to Ignorance.
 14. 
14 Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes
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15 [The Alliance of Education and Government.
 16. 
16 [Tophet]
 17. 
17 Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
 18. 
18 A Long Story
 19. 
19 Stanzas to Mr Bentley
expand section20. 
20 The Progress of Poesy.
collapse section21. 
21 The Bard.
 I. 
I.
 II. 
II.
 III. 
III.
 22. 
22 [Ode on the Pleasure Arising from Vicissitude]
 23. 
23 [Epitaph on Mrs Clerke]
 24. 
24 [Epitaph on a Child]
 25. 
25 The Fatal Sisters.
 26. 
26 The Descent of Odin.
 27. 
27 The Triumphs of Owen.
 28. 
28 [The Death of Hoel]
 29. 
29 [Caradoc]
 30. 
30 [Conan]
 31. 
31 [Sketch of his Own Character]
 32. 
32 [Epitaph on Sir William Williams]
 33. 
33 Song I
 34. 
34 Song II
 35. 
35 The Candidate
 36. 
36 William Shakespeare to Mrs Anne,
 37. 
37 [Epitaph on Mrs Mason]
 38. 
38 [Parody on an Epitaph]
 39. 
39 [Invitation to Mason]
 40. 
40 On L[or]d H[olland']s Seat near M[argat]e, K[en]t
 41. 
41 Ode for Music
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FRAGMENTARY AND UNDATED POEMS
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POEMS OF DOUBTFUL AUTHENTICITY

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195

III.

1

“Edward, lo! to sudden fate
“(Weave we the woof. The thread is spun)
“Half of thy heart we consecrate.
“(The web is wove. The work is done.)”
‘Stay, oh stay! nor thus forlorn
‘Leave me unblessed, unpitied, here to mourn:
‘In yon bright track, that fires the western skies,
‘They melt, they vanish from my eyes.
‘But oh! what solemn scenes on Snowdon's height
‘Descending slow their glittering skirts unroll?
196

‘Visions of glory, spare my aching sight,
‘Ye unborn ages, crowd not on my soul!
‘No more our long-lost Arthur we bewail.
‘All-hail, ye genuine kings, Britannia's issue, hail!

2

‘Girt with many a baron bold
197

‘Sublime their starry fronts they rear;
‘And gorgeous dames, and statesmen old
‘In bearded majesty, appear.
‘In the midst a form divine!
‘Her eye proclaims her of the Briton-line;
‘Her lion-port, her awe-commanding face,
‘Attempered sweet to virgin-grace.
‘What strings symphonious tremble in the air,
‘What strains of vocal transport round her play!
198

‘Hear from the grave, great Taliessin, hear;
‘They breathe a soul to animate thy clay.
‘Bright Rapture calls and, soaring as she sings,
‘Waves in the eye of heaven her many-coloured wings.

3

‘The verse adorn again
‘Fierce war and faithful love,
‘And truth severe, by fairy fiction dressed.
‘In buskined measures move
199

‘Pale Grief and pleasing Pain,
‘With Horror, tyrant of the throbbing breast.
‘A voice as of the cherub-choir
‘Gales from blooming Eden bear;
‘And distant warblings lessen on my ear,
‘That lost in long futurity expire.
‘Fond impious man, think'st thou yon sanguine cloud,
200

‘Raised by thy breath, has quenched the orb of day?
‘Tomorrow he repairs the golden flood,
‘And warms the nations with redoubled ray.
‘Enough for me: with joy I see
‘The different doom our fates assign.
‘Be thine despair and sceptered care;
‘To triumph, and to die, are mine.’
He spoke, and headlong from the mountain's height
Deep in the roaring tide he plunged to endless night.
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