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The poems (1969)

Gray, Thomas (1716-1771)

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 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.
expand section21. 
21 The Bard.
 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
 42. 
42 [Translation from Statius,
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43 [Verse Fragments]
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44 [Impromptus]
 45. 
45 [Couplet about Birds]
 46. 
46 [Lines on Dr Robert Smith]
 47. 
47 Satire on the Heads of Houses;
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POEMS OF DOUBTFUL AUTHENTICITY

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Third in the labours of the disc came on,
With sturdy step and slow, Hippomedon.
Artful and strong he poised the well-known weight,
By Phlegyas warned and fired by Mnestheus' fate,
That to avoid and this to emulate.
His vigorous arm he tried before he flung,
Braced all his nerves and every sinew strung;
Then, with a tempest's whirl and wary eye,
Pursued his cast and hurled the orb on high;
The orb on high tenacious of its course,
True to the mighty arm that gave it force,
Far overleaps all bound and joys to see
Its ancient lord secure of victory.
The theatre's green height and woody wall
Tremble ere it precipitates its fall;
The ponderous mass sinks in the cleaving ground,
While vales and woods and echoing hills rebound.
As when from Aetna's smoking summit broke,
The eyeless Cyclops heaved the craggy rock:
Where ocean frets beneath the dashing oar,
And parting surges round the vessel roar,
'Twas there he aimed the meditated harm,
And scarce Ulysses scaped his giant arm.
A tiger's pride the victor bore away,
With native spots and artful labour gay:
A shining border round the margin rolled,
And calmed the terrors of his claws in gold.
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