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[Elegiac Verses]


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[Elegiac Verses]


1 Qua Trebiae glaucas salices intersecat unda,
2     Arvaque Romanis nobilitata malis.
3 Visus adhuc amnis veteri de clade rubere,
4     Et suspirantes ducere maestus aquas;
5 Maurorumque ala, et nigrae increbrescere turmae,
6     Et pulsa Ausonidum ripa sonare fuga.

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0 [Elegiac Verses] 1 Explanatory

Title/Paratext] "[Prose translation by J. R. [...]" H.W. Starr/J.R. Hendrickson, 1966.

"[Prose translation by J. R. Hendrickson:]
"Elegiac Verses"

Gray's letter (T & W no. 78) mixes English and Latin in the same sentence. The sentence begins, 'Secondly, how we passed the famous plains . . .', and then continues with the Latin verse, as follows:

. . . where the water of the Trebia cuts through the grey-green willows and the fields ennobled by Roman disasters. The stream seemed even yet to run red with blood from the ancient slaughter and to sigh in lamentation as it flowed. The cavalry squadron of Moors, black bands of horsemen, seemed still to exult in triumph, and the trampled bank to resound with the flight of the sons of Ausonia."

The Complete Poems of Thomas Gray: English, Latin and Greek. Edited by Herbert W. Starr and J. R. Hendrickson. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1966, 143.

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1 Qua Trebiae glaucas salices intersecat unda,
2     Arvaque Romanis nobilitata malis.
3 Visus adhuc amnis veteri de clade rubere,
4     Et suspirantes ducere maestus aquas;
5 Maurorumque ala, et nigrae increbrescere turmae,
6     Et pulsa Ausonidum ripa sonare fuga.

Works cited

  • The Complete Poems of Thomas Gray: English, Latin and Greek. Edited by Herbert W. Starr and J. R. Hendrickson. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1966.

Contractions, italics and initial capitalization have been largely eliminated, except where of real import. Initial letters of sentences have been capitalized, all accents have been removed. The editor would like to express his gratitude to library staff at Pembroke College, Cambridge, at the British Library, and at the Bodleian Library, Oxford, for their invaluable assistance.

About this text

  • Composition: 1740
  • Publication: 1775
  • Base text: 1775
  • Verse form: Elegiac couplets
  • Genre: elegy
  • Notes/Queries: 1
  • Source: TEI/XML

Editions in the Digital Library

  • 1775: The Poems of Mr. Gray. To which are prefixed Memoirs of his Life and Writings by W[illiam]. Mason. York, 1775.
  • 1798: The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray. London, 1798.
  • 1799: The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray. London, [1799].
  • 1800: The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray. London, 1800.
  • 1800: The Poems of Gray. A new edition. London, 1800.
  • 1814: The Works of Thomas Gray, Vol. I. Ed. Thomas James Mathias. London, 1814.
  • 1816: The Works of Thomas Gray, Vol. I. Ed. John Mitford. London, 1816.
  • 1826: The Poetical Works of Thomas Gray. London, 1826.
  • 1836: The Works of Thomas Gray, Volume I. Ed. John Mitford. London, 1836.