English Lyrics from Dryden to Burns

Thomas Gray died having published only a few poems, some anonymously, and one only after a pirated version was printed. He was happy to spend his life "teaching" at Cambridge, though he rarely lectured, instead busying himself studying Latin and Greek and lavishly reworking his poetry. His work was formal and perfectionist, with a timeless quality, which has both secured its reputation, and led Gray to be disparaged by Wordsworth for his statement "the language of the age is never the language of poetry."