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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THOMAS GRAY, by ARTHUR CHRISTOPHER BENSON Poet's Biography
First Line: Singer most melancholy, most austere
Last Line: And I am glad because thou wast afraid.
Alternate Author Name(s): Benson, A. C.
Subject(s): Gray, Thomas (1716-1771)
First Line: Singer most melancholy, most austere
Last Line: And I am glad because thou wast afraid.
Alternate Author Name(s): Benson, A. C.
Subject(s): Gray, Thomas (1716-1771)
Singer most melancholy, most austere,
So overcharged with greatness, that thy frame
Was all too frail to feed the aspiring flame,
And sank in chill disdain and secret fear,
Save that thy idle fingers now and then
Touched unawares a slender chord divine;
Oh if but half the silence that was thine
Were shared to-day by clamorous minstrel men!
I thread the woodland where thy feet have strayed;
The gnarled trunks dreaming out their ancient tale
Are fair as then; the same sad chime I hear
That floats at eve across the purple vale;
The music of thy speech is in my ear,
And I am glad because thou wast afraid.
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Other Poems of Interest...
LINES WRITTEN IN A CITY COMPOSING-ROOM by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS
THE DESCENT OF TIMOTHY by JAMES HAY BEATTIE
WITH ILLUSTRATION TO GRAY'S POEMS by WILLIAM BLAKE
ON GRAY'S ELEGY by CHARLES WILLIAM BRODRIBB
ODE - 'ON A DISTANT PROSPECT' OF MAKING A FORTUNE by CHARLES STUART CALVERLEY
SKETCH OF HIS OWN CHARACTER by THOMAS GRAY
THE BEADLE'S ANNUAL ADDRESS by THOMAS HOOD
IF GRAY HAD HAD TO WRITE HIS ELEGY IN CEMETERY OF SPOON RIVER ... by JOHN COLLINGS SQUIRE
RETROGRESSION by WILLIAM WATSON
AFTER CONSTRUING by ARTHUR CHRISTOPHER BENSON