The Bard

by Thomas Gray, John Talbot

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Genres: Poetry

70 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1757

About the author

Thomas Gray was an English poet, letter-writer, classical scholar and professor at Cambridge University.

Reviews

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This poem is a Pindaric ode and has the configuration and many of the general qualities of The Progress of Poesy. As in that poem, so here Gray uses a metrical arrangement that conglomerates the greatest fluidity with the greatest strictness.

In imitation of Pindar, this poem consists of nine stanzas, divided into groups of three. In each group the first two stanzas are identical, while the third uses a different pattern.

The poem is to be regarded as spontaneous outpouring of a 13th-century Welsh Bard in a situation of wildness and terror. Gary felt its subject to be suitable for Pindaric terms; for abrupt transitions were regarded as characteristic of "primitive" poetry. The tradition that forms the basis of the poem is not historically authentic, but it serves Gray's purpose.

Gray's own comment on the poem was: "I felt myself the Bard".

This poem has a more understandable harmony than The Progress of Poesy. It has a single setting-in the mountains of Snowdon where they meet the river Conway. The action takes place at a particular moment in the year 1283 when Edward I was returning from his conquest of Wales.

The harmony of this poem is helped also by its dramatic structure. Only lines 9-22 and 143-4 are devoted to a description of the scene of the action. The rest of the poem is a speech by the sole surviving Bard, interjected by a chorus of the ghosts of the slain poets. (But the survivor himself joins that chorus too.)

[Austin · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poor digital edition

Struggled to follow the poem due to bad formatting, could have benefited from a little human editing. Would suggest avoiding.