Thomas Gray

2010-01-11T23:08:23Z

Kateryna lyuta: Created page with 'Thomas Gray – a predominant poetic figure of the mid 18th century Thomas Gray was an English poet, classical scholar and professor at Cambridge University. He was born in Camb…'

Thomas Gray – a predominant poetic figure of the mid 18th century

Thomas Gray was an English poet, classical scholar and professor at Cambridge University. He was born in Cambridge on 26th of December in 1716. He was the fifth child of twelve, all of whom died in their infancy. His parents were Dorothy Antrobas and Philip Gray, who shared the same background of commerce.
T. Gray reached the Upper School in 1729 and learned at an early age to look after himself and to pursue his own independent line. He developed very early an ambitious interest for books, literature and languages. At Eton he began reading Virgil for his own amusement and exercised for fun verses in Latin, which turned to be out good, and 70 years later quoted by Jacob Bryant.
His love for poetry was influenced by his interest for English history, which may be traced back to his time in Eton.
At the age of thirteen, Thomas Gray became a member of a small clique called the “Quadruple Alliance”, whose leader was Horace Walpole, the youngest son of Sir Robert Walpole.
In 1734 Gray went to the Peterhouse at Cambridge when he was nearly eighteen years old. Eton marked the significant and impressive period of his life, which had influence on his poems. T. Gray came into residence at Cambridge on 9th October and a week later was elected to a Bible Clerkship. Almost a year later he exchanged his Bible clerkship for a Hale Scholarship. At Cambridge he wrote the Tripos verses “Luna Habitabilis”.
Thomas Gray graduated at a normal time. During his studies at Cambridge he preferred Latin, French, Italian, Greek, architecture, history, but disliked mathematics and philosophy. In a letter to Horace Ashton he writes: “What for do I need metaphysics?”
His poems are filled with reminiscences of other languages and literature, of life and death.
In 1738 Gray travelled with his friend Walpole to Italy and stayed there almost for two and a half years. At that time gray was almost 25 years old, and was yet unqualified for a profession at all. He did not want Walpole, who had influential power in many quarters, to help him out. His several journeys to Italy and France had influenced his works in language and expression, e. g. the Alcaic Ode.
Only in 1742, Thomas Gray started writing serious poetry, after the death of his close friend Richard west. In 1757 he was offered the position of Poet Laureate, which he instantly refused.
During his lifetime Gray wrote not more than thirteen poems. One of the impressive reminiscences during his lifetime were letters written to Walpole, Ashton, West, Mason etc.
Subjects such as death and mortality were an issue in Gray’s poems. Hence he belonged to the group of the so called “Graveyard poets”.
Gray’s Masterpiece Elegy written in a country church – yard belonged to this graveyard genre. Another significant and impressive poem is the Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes, which was dedicated to Horace Walpole, at least to his cat.
In search for inspiration, Thomas Gray looked always for new settings. He adored new architecture, monuments and yards, which made a big impression on him and thus influenced the language and the beauty of his poetry, such as is the Elegy.
In 1771 Gray’s illness and death came as a surprise to his friends. It was suspected that T. Gray suffered of stomach gout. He died on July 30th in Cambridge alone. His close friend Horace Walpole was in Paris and learned of his friend’s death by chance from a newspaper. Sir Egerton Brydges, English bibliographer, recorded his impressions about Thomas Gray as following: “He was a man of numerous accomplishments – brilliant, original and enthusiastic - and of varied, though light, erudition. He was talkative and conceited; bur amusing, and, in the common sense, amiable. An absolute model of gallantry, he always paid compliments to the youngest belle in the room, even to his last days.”
Another quotation maid by Walpole to Cole about Gray was: “Our long, very long friendship and his genius must endear to me everything that relates to him.”

W. Edmund, Gosse: Gray; English man of Letters. London, 1882.
R. W., Ketton – Cremer: Gray; a Biography. Cambridge, 1955.
Duncan C., Tovey: The Letters of Thomas Gray; including the correspondence of Gray and Mason. Volume III. London, 1912.

William the Conqueror

2009-11-09T23:25:02Z

Kateryna lyuta: Created page with 'William the Conqueror 1066 – 1087 William the Conqueror, William the Bastard, William the Founder of the Anglo – Norman Monarchy. Illegitimate son of Robert, Duke, rather Cou…'

William the Conqueror 1066 – 1087
William the Conqueror, William the Bastard, William the Founder of the Anglo – Norman Monarchy. Illegitimate son of Robert, Duke, rather Count of Normandy, who was the second son of the great-grandson of the legendary founder of the dukedom of counter ship – Hrolf, Rolf, Rollo. William received the Duchy of Normandy upon his father's death in 1035, when Normandy was at war with France (Herbert of Vermandois and Hugh of Paris, and with Rudolf of Burgundy, the king of the West Franks).
A council consisting of noblemen and William's guardians ruled Normandy but ducal authority waned under the Normans' violent nature and the province was wracked with assassination and revolt for twelve years. In 1047, William sustained his position in the eastern Norman regions and, with the help of France's King Henry I, defeated the barons. He spent the next several years strengthening his power on the continent through marriage, diplomacy, war and savage intimidation.
By 1066, Normandy was in a position of virtual independence from William's feudal lord, Henry I of France and the disputed succession in England offered William an opportunity for invasion. Edward the Confessor tried to get Norman’s support while fighting with his father-in-law, Earl Godwin, and promised the throne to William in 1051. Before Edward died in 1066, he agreed with Godwin on Godwin’s son Harold, as heir to the crown - after the recent Danish kings, the members of the council were anxious to keep the monarchy in Anglo-Saxon hands.
William was enraged to invade, insisting that Harold had promised it already to him. Harold, tried to strengthen his kingship and started the battle against William and the Normans on October 14, 1066 at Hastings.
Williams only aim was to bring all Brittany under Norman control and to incorporate a large part of the country with the Duchy. He became the conqueror of the Bretons, ruled as a French and Christian Prince, aiming an influence in French affairs, which maid him being hated by the folks for the first time. Throughout his reign he was subject to strong religious impulses. Williams’s attitude was the same towards the state and the church. The church served him well and he needed the support in order to strengthen his power, for what he rewarded it richly. In any cases William sought for wise counsellors and agents of his policy, but never allowed anyone to interfere in his personal and political affairs, actions and will. The most dangerous competitor he ever had was the strong and crafty son of Godwin, yet the battle of Hastings 1066 was but the peak of a series of intellectual defeats which he had inflected on the greatest of the Saxons. Williams’s actions were personal in their character and gave his actions an aspect of legal and social authority. By disenfranchising Anglo-Saxon landowners, he instituted a brand of feudalism in England that strengthened the monarchy. He was a Founder, for he laid the foundation and shaped the general outline of the subsequent social and political life of England. William was one of the greatest kings England ever had, a very wise and powerful man, more dignified than any of his predecessors. He loved everyone who loved and served God. He raised monastery and reigned over England for almost 22 years.

Freeman, Edward Augustus: The History of the Norman Conquest of England, its causes and its results. Volume 1., Oxford; at the Clarendon Press.

Langton Sansford, J. (1872): Estimates of the English Kings., London: Longmans, Green, and Co.

Sir Palgrave, Francis, K. H.: The History of Normandy and of England. Volume 3., London: Macmillan and Co.

http://www.peoples.ru/state/king/england/william_conqueror/

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Thomas Gray

William the Conqueror