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 117, 90; Jones, Thomas Gray, Scholar (1937), "Register of Gray Autograph Manuscripts", VI. 20(b) "Ode to Poesy", 181; Munby (ed.), Sale Catalogues (1971), Evans sale (27-29 November 1845), lot 788(?), 20, Sotheby's sale (28 August 1851), lot 53(?), 45, Sotheby's sale (4 August 1854), lot 241, 73; W[right]., Catalogue (1851), [lot 53?,] 13
Contents: Autograph, revised, notes to the poem, in Gray's copy of Odes by Mr. Gray (1757). The notes were first published in the poem's version in Poems (1768).