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Poems, [ca. 1725]-1771

  • "Ad C: Favonium Zephyrinum"

    • Archive Work ID: poems.lt02
    • Uniform Title: "Ad C: Favonium Zephyrinum" [e-text]
    • First Line: Mater rosarum, cui tenerae vigent
    • Language: Latin
    • First Published: 1775
    • References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 144-145 (with English prose translation); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 310-312 (with English prose translation)
    • Summary: Written at Rome in the Spring of 1740 while on the Grand Tour with Horace Walpole. First published, untitled but referred to in a footnote as "Ad C. Favonium Zephyrinum", in Mason's Memoirs (1775), section II, letter no. XXI. Mason is the only source for this letter, dated May 1740, in which Gray originally sent the poem to West (Favonius). MS translation into English by Thomas Wharton.

    1 Manuscript:

      • [MS image]Archive MS ID: mss.0002 (Source: EAD/XML)
      • Title: "Ode to Mr. West"
      • Date: [between 1776 and 1804]
      • Physical Description: 3 pages, 193 mm x 160 mm; transcript and English translation in the hand of John Phillipps
      • Language: Latin, English
      • Location: BOD MS Eng.misc.e.241, ff. 43-44r, Special Collections, Bodleian Library, Oxford University, Oxford, UK <http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/weston/finding-resources/locations>
      • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), 79; Crum (ed.), First-Line Index (1969), vol. II, 668, item O754; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=76914>
      • Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Phillipps (f. 43), followed by an English translation headed "Translation" (ff. 43v-44r), in a volume of collected verse, copied from manuscripts, printed editions and newspapers, by John Phillipps of the Middle Temple and Exeter College, Oxford, 1776-1804 (Summary Catalogue, 45759).
      • Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.


  • "[Alcaic Ode]"

    • Archive Work ID: poems.lt04
    • Uniform Title: "[Alcaic Ode]" [e-text]
    • First Line: O Tu, severi relligio loci,
    • Language: Latin
    • First Published: 1775
    • References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 151-152 (with English prose translation); Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 317-318 (with English prose translation)
    • Summary: Gray wrote this poem in the album of the monastery of the Grande Chartreuse on this second visit on 21 August 1741, during his journey from Turin to Lyon, when he was returning alone from the Grand Tour. First published, as "Ode", in Mason's Memoirs (1775), 117-118. MS translation into English by Thomas Wharton.

    1 Manuscript:

      • [MS image]Archive MS ID: mss.0006 (Source: EAD/XML)
      • Title: "Ode to the Deity of the Grand Chartreuse"
      • Date: [between 1776 and 1804]
      • Physical Description: 3 pages, 193 mm x 160 mm; transcript and English translation in the hand of John Phillipps
      • Language: Latin, English
      • Location: BOD MS Eng.misc.e.241, ff. 42-43r, Special Collections, Bodleian Library, Oxford University, Oxford, UK <http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/weston/finding-resources/locations>
      • References: Smith (ed.), Index (1989), 79; Sutton (ed.), Location Register (1995), 414; Crum (ed.), First-Line Index (1969), vol. II, 674, item O877; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=77055>
      • Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Phillipps (f. 42), followed by an English translation headed "Translation" (ff. 42v-43r), in a volume of collected verse, copied from manuscripts, printed editions and newspapers, by John Phillipps of the Middle Temple and Exeter College, Oxford, 1776-1804 (Summary Catalogue, 45759).
      • Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.


  • "The Candidate"

    1 Manuscript:

      • [MS image]Archive MS ID: mss.0243 (Source: EAD/XML)
      • Title: "Jemmy Twitcher or the Cambridge Courtship"
      • Date: [between 1782 and 1804]
      • Physical Description: 2 pages, 193 mm x 160 mm; transcript in the hand of John Phillipps
      • Language: English
      • Location: BOD MS Eng.misc.e.241, ff. 76v-77r, Special Collections, Bodleian Library, Oxford University, Oxford, UK <http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/weston/finding-resources/locations>
      • References: Crum (ed.), First-Line Index (1969), vol. II, 1088, item W1466; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=86775>
      • Contents: Transcript in the hand of John Phillipps, including ll. 33-34 (crossed out), annotated below "Written by Mr. Gray at the time of Lord Sandwichs election for High steward of Cambridge. Gents Magazine Jan. 82", and with additions "To Jemmy" before ll. 31-32 and "To Physic & Law." before ll. 33-34. In a volume of collected verse, copied from manuscripts, printed editions and newspapers, by John Phillipps of the Middle Temple and Exeter College, Oxford, 1776-1804 (Summary Catalogue, 45759).
      • Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.


  • "[Epitaph on Mrs Clerke]"

    • Archive Work ID: poems.epmc
    • Uniform Title: "[Epitaph on Mrs Clerke]" [e-text]
    • First Line: Lo! where this silent marble weeps,
    • Language: English
    • First Published: 1758 (pr. 1759)
    • References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 52; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 207-209
    • Summary: Written not long before 31 January 1758 presumably at the request of John Clerke to commemorate his wife Jane who died 27 April 1757 aged 31. Inscribed on a mural tablet in St George's parish church, Beckenham, Kent, 1758. First published, as "An Epitaph copied from a Tomb-stone in a Country Church Yard", in The Gentleman's Magazine, October 1759.

    1 Manuscript:

      • [MS image]Archive MS ID: mss.0245 (Source: EAD/XML)
      • Title: [untitled]
      • Date: 1769[?]
      • Physical Description: 1 page, 220 mm x 162 mm; transcript in an unidentified hand
      • Language: English
      • Location: BOD MS Eng.poet.c.6, f. 93, Special Collections, Bodleian Library, Oxford University, Oxford, UK <http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/weston/finding-resources/locations>
      • References: Crum (ed.), First-Line Index (1969), vol. I, 527, item L511 (no author attribution); Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=73561> (no author attribution)
      • Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, headed "& Where is this Epitaph", in a volume entitled Memorials of Richard Gough, volume II, section I. "Poems preserved by Richard Gough Esq.". The volume, which is 14 5/8 x 9 3/4 in. in size and contains 320 leaves, is one of two Volumes of Poems and other interesting Memorials of Richard Gough, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A.., collected by J[ohn] B[owyer] Nichols (Summary Catalogue, 32551).
      • Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.


  • "Ode to Adversity"

    1 Manuscript:


  • "On L[or]d H[olland']s Seat near M[argat]e, K[en]t"

    • Archive Work ID: poems.oxst
    • Uniform Title: "On L[or]d H[olland']s Seat near M[argat]e, K[en]t" [e-text]
    • First Line: Old and abandoned by each venal friend,
    • Language: English
    • First Published: 1769
    • References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 53; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 259-264
    • Summary: Written while on a visit to William Robinson in Denton, Kent, in June 1768. First published, anonymously without Gray's consent, as "Inscription for the Villa of a decay'd Satesman [sic] on the Sea-Coast", in The New Foundling Hospital for Wit (London, 1769) iii. 34-35.

    1 Manuscript:

      • [MS image]Archive MS ID: mss.0244 (Source: EAD/XML)
      • Title: "On Lord Holland [...] at Kingsgate near Margate"
      • Date: 1769[?]
      • Physical Description: 2 pages, 220 mm x 162 mm; transcript in an unidentified hand
      • Language: English
      • Location: BOD MS Eng.poet.c.6, f. 92, Special Collections, Bodleian Library, Oxford University, Oxford, UK <http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/weston/finding-resources/locations>
      • References: Crum (ed.), First-Line Index (1969), vol. II, 681, item O1000; Nelson (ed.), Union First Line Index. Mar. 2010. Folger Shakespeare Library. 19 March 2010. <http://firstlines.folger.edu/detail.php?id=77210>
      • Contents: Transcript in an unidentified hand, in six numbered stanzas, in a volume entitled Memorials of Richard Gough, volume II, section I. "Poems preserved by Richard Gough Esq.". The poem is listed with the date "1769" in the table of contents on fol. 7 of the volume. The volume, which is 14 5/8 x 9 3/4 in. in size and contains 320 leaves, is one of two Volumes of Poems and other interesting Memorials of Richard Gough, Esq., F.R.S., F.S.A.., collected by J[ohn] B[owyer] Nichols (Summary Catalogue, 32551).
      • Surrogates: Digital facsimile [JPEG] from original MS available online.


  • "Song II"

    • Archive Work ID: poems.sng2
    • Uniform Title: "Song II" [e-text]
    • First Line: Thyrsis, when we parted, swore
    • Language: English
    • First Published: 1791
    • References: Starr/Hendrickson (eds.), Complete Poems (1966), 99-100; Lonsdale (ed.), Poems (1969), 242-243
    • Summary: Written in October 1761 at the request of Gray's friend Henrietta Speed. First published in The European Magazine 19 (February 1791), 152.

    1 Manuscript:


Contents

  • Collection: Poems, [ca. 1725]-1771
  • Location: Bodleian Library, Oxford University
  • Works: 8
  • Manuscripts: 8

Works