John Gay, born on 30 June 1685 in Barnstaple, Devon, and dead in London on 4 December 1732, occupies a distinctive place in the literature of the early eighteenth century. He was a poet, dramatist, librettist, fabulist, journalist, and observer of urban life, but none of these labels fully contains him. His greatest achievement, The Beggar’s Opera, changed the history of English theatre by making songs familiar to or…
“Life is a jest; and all things show it. I thought so once; and now I know it.”
Neighbourhood:
Georgian Poets, Light Verse Poets, Satirical Poets
Emotional landscape: Irony, Wonder, Tenderness
In the quiet churchyard of St. Giles' Church in Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire, lies a simple grave that has drawn literary pilgrims for centuries. Here rests Thomas Gray (1716-1771), a man whose single greatest poem transformed him from an obscure Cambridge scholar into one of the most quoted poets in the English language. Yet Gray himself was a study in contradictions—a reluctant celebrity who shunned fame, a brillia…
“Nature and sorrow, and tenderness, are the true genius of such things; poetical ornaments are foreign to the purpose; for they only show a man is not sorry.”
Neighbourhood:
Augustan Poets, Death & Mortality, Romantic Poets
Emotional landscape: Sorrow, Despair, Longing
