1. j
  2. 1700
  3. Thomas Gray
  4. English
On a Distant Prospect of Eton College

Ye distant spires, ye antique towers,
  That crowned the watery glade,
Where grateful Science still adores
  Her Henry’s holy shade;
And ye that from the stately brow
Of Windsor’s heights the expanse below
  Of grove, of lawn, of mead survey,...

Poet: Thomas Gray
Elegy written in a Country Churchyard

The Curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
  The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea,
The ploughman homeward plods his weary way,
  And leaves the world to darkness and to me.

Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,
  And all the air a solemn...

Poet: Thomas Gray
Spring

Lo! where the rosy-bosomed Hours,
  Fair Venus’ train, appear,
  And wake the purple year!
The Attic warbler pours her throat
Responsive to the cuckoo’s note,
The untaught harmony of spring:
While, whispering pleasure as they fly,
Cool...

Poet: Thomas Gray
The Bard

A Pindaric Ode
I.
“RUIN seize thee, ruthless King!
  Confusion on thy banners wait;
Tho’ fanned by Conquest’s crimson wing,
  They mock the air with idle state,
Helm, nor hauberk’s twisted mail,
Nor e’en thy virtues, Tyrant, shall avail...

Poet: Thomas Gray
Ode on the Pleasure Arising from Vicissitude

Now the golden Morn aloft
  Waves her dew-bespangled wing,
With vermeil cheek and whisper soft
  She woos the tardy Spring:
Till April starts, and calls around
The sleeping fragrance from the ground,
And lightly o’er the living scene
...

Poet: Thomas Gray