Summary: Begun not earlier than September 1751 and completed by December 1754 when Gray sent the poem in a letter to Thomas Wharton, dated 26 December 1754. First published, as "Ode." in Odes by Mr. Gray (1757), 5.
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 115, 90; Toynbee/Whibley (eds.), Correspondence (1971), letter no. 194, vol. i, 412-418 (subscription required); Starr, "Gray's Craftsmanship" (1946), particularly pp. 422-424
Contents: Autograph fair copy, here entitled "Ode, in the Greek Manner" and including the headings "Strophe", "Antistrophe", and "Epode", sent in and preceding a letter to Thomas Wharton, 26 December 1754.
References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), item GrT 118, 90; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), 414
Contents: Autograph of the motto, advertisement, and notes to the poem, untitled but numbered 5. and identified on f. 3r as "5. The progress of Poesy, a Pindaric Ode", in MS instructions to Dodsley for the 1768London edition, sent in a letter, [1?] February 1768.