Eton College Library is marking the centenary with the special exhibition Eton’s Bard: Thomas Gray and his Elegy, now available in full online as well as to visit in person. Through the poems that he published, the books that he annotated and the remarkable manuscripts that reveal the evolution of two of his greatest works, the exhibition tells the story of Thomas Gray from young Etonian to respected poet.  

Gray’s education at Eton was steeped in the study of the classics, and he remained a scholar of Greek and Roman literature all his life. His own writings contain many of the hallmarks of neoclassicism. Yet Gray drew into his poetry the introspection, medieval allusions and sense of the sublime in nature which would come to define the poetry of the Romantic movement several decades later.   

In his lifetime, Gray preferred anonymity for his writings, and might have been pleased that it would be one of his poems rather than himself which would enter the public consciousness. But without Gray and his writings, Romantic poetry – and English poetry as a whole – might now look very different.    

Enter the exhibition now to experience it in full, or navigate the four sections individually below.

We are pleased that we are now able to welcome visitors in person. To book an appointment please send an email to [email protected].

We hope that this exhibition will be useful to teachers and secondary pupils beyond our own school. You can find a teachers’ guide to the online exhibition here.