The Latin Poetry of Thomas Gray - (Bloomsbury Neo-Latin Series: Early Modern Texts and Anthologies) by Estelle Haan (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

In the first full-scale edition of Thomas Gray's Latin poetry, the Latin text and facing English translation are complemented by a detailed introduction and comprehensive commentary that situate Gray's Latin verse in relation to his vernacular poetry, epistolary correspondence, and, especially, his appropriation of classical and Neo-Latin literature. This book also traces hitherto unlocated manuscripts of several of his Latin poems, and includes an editio princeps of recently discovered Latin verses pertaining to his Neapolitan sojourn.

Gray's Latin poetry presents an illuminating portrait of the artist as a young man, mapping his growth and development from his Etonian days to his undergraduate years at Cambridge University, to his continental journey and his return to England. Impressively eclectic in its scope and tone, it ranges from experimental renderings of English, Greek and Italian verse to more strikingly original pieces, including poetic reinterpretations of Alexander Pope's Essay on Man and John Locke's An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. Gray looks back to a classical past, offering imaginative re-readings of Lucretius, Virgil and Horace. At the same time, his Latin verse is firmly rooted in a postclassical world. At its heart is the theme of presences, whether sacred, imagined, absent or remembered, conveyed with a linguistic ingenuity that facilitates the encoding of homoeroticism in a Neo-Latin language of sensibility.

Review Quotes

"Haan's volume presents the most detailed and comprehensive treatment of Gray's Latin compositions ever attempted, and it is likely to remain the standard edition for a long time." --International Journal of the Classical Tradition

"This is an impressive book which makes available for the first time a full scholarly edition of Thomas Gray's Latin poetry. The translations are of a consistently high quality, the contextual materials are always clear, concise and helpful, and the annotations are impressively thorough." --Michael G. Brennan, Professor of Renaissance Studies, University of Leeds, UK

"The Latin Poetry of Thomas Gray provides unique insights into the literary culture of this acclaimed English poet. This first full-scale edition of his Latin poems reveals in expert fashion both their literary merits and their cultural and historical significance." --Dr. Marc Laureys, Professor of Medieval Latin and Neo-Latin Philology, University of Bonn, Germany

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