Thomas Gray (26 December, 1716-30 July, 1771) was an English poet, writer and classical scholar.
Fun Facts about Thomas Gray:
1. Thomas Gray was born in what is to become the historic financial center of London, Cornhill. His father, Philip gray was scrivener (a person who read and wrote letters and official documents to the illiterate), and his mother, Dorothy Antrobus was a milliner (hat maker and manufacturer).
2. The Gray family had 12 children; he was the fifth and the only to survive to adulthood.
3. His mother paid his tuition for Eton College where his uncle Robert Antrobus became his first teacher and inspired his love for observational science, especially botany. His other uncle, Robert’s brother, William Antrobus became his tutor.
Years later he would recall his days at Eton as some of the happiest of his life.
4. One of the main reasons for going to fancy shmancy schools was, and still is, to make connections. Thomas Gray made several good, well placed, friends including Horace Walpole, son of the prime minister Robert Walpole and future historian and politician. Thomas Ashton who would hold important positions in the church, and Robert West, son of Robert Weston who was Lord Chancellor of Ireland.
5. They called themselves the “quadruple alliance”, with Gray’s nickname of Orozmades, the Greek form of the name Ahura Mazda (or Ormazd), the supreme creator deity and “Lord of Wisdom” in Zoroastrianism. He used this nickname all his life in correspondence, adding “Master of the noble Science of Defense” to his signature.
The other three were: Celadon – Horace Walpole; Favonius or Zephyrus – Richard West: Almanzor-Thomas Ashoton.
6. Richard West’s death, circa 1742, greatly affected Thomas Gray and he started writing poems seriously.
7. After moving to Cambridge, he started a self-directed program to study literature and because one of the most knowledgeable living persons about the subject. He spent most of his life as a scholar in Cambridge.
8. Together with Oliver Goldsmith, William Cowper, and Christopher Smart, Thomas Gray was known as a “graveyard poet”, sharing ideas and mortality and the finality of death.
9. Despite his popularity during his own lifetime and being offered the position of Poet Laureate in 1757, Thomas Gray only published 13 poems. This was mainly to being very critical of himself.
10. Thomas Gray is, to this day, a topic of discussion among academics. His use of Language and inspiration from Greek and Norse classics are still being studies.
Zohar – Man of la Book
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Sources:
Thomas Gray | Wikipedia
Thomas Gray | British Literature Wiki
Thomas Gray | The Poetry Foundation
