Thomas Gray's Finish

This article considers the finish—the formal polish—of Thomas Gray's literary style as it relates to his broader concern with endings not only of poems but also of human lives. It pays attention to poems from across Gray's career, from his early lyrics, to the "Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard," to his later odes and epitaphs, showing how the elegance and memorability of Gray's manner conceal an intricate and humane quality of phrasing, feeling, and vision.