Thomas Gray's Attempt at Writing a History of English Poetry-His Role in Recovering Ancient Poetry in the Eighteenth Century
| Project/Area Number |
10610480
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
英語・英米文学
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| Research Institution | Osaka University of Economics |
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Principal Investigator |
KATAYAMA Mamiko Osaka University of Economics Business Administration Professor, 経営学部, 教授 (50183778)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1998 – 2000
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| Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 2000)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥2,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000)
Fiscal Year 2000: ¥400,000 (Direct Cost: ¥400,000)
Fiscal Year 1999: ¥600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000)
Fiscal Year 1998: ¥1,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000)
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| Keywords | Thomas Gray / James Macpherson / Thomas Warton / James Beattie / Thomas Percy / Eighteenth-Century studies / Ancient Poetry / English Literary History / トマス・バーシー / ジィムズ・ビィーティ |
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| Research Abstract |
Thomas Gray is famous for his Elegy, but not as much acknowledged for his role in recovering ancient poetry and thus preparing the stage for Romanticism. Ancient poetry had been neglected as unrefined, but during Gray's lifetime it was collected by literary men such as James Macpherson and Thomas Percy whom Gray had correspondence with and gave crucial advice to. This research aims at depicting Gray as a leading poet in this poetical movement with considerations on ; his relationships with collectors ; and his ideas and scholarly efforts in writing a history of English poetry.
Following are parts of my research results. First in "The Visionary Wind from the North : Gray, Macpherson, Wordsworth and Romantic Windscapes", I point out resemblance in the landscape descriptions among these poets. Focusing on Gray's comments on Macpherson's "The Six Bards", this paper argues that the two eighteenth-century poets influenced Wordsworth on developing Romantic imagery of wind for visionary imagina
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tion.
Secondly in "A Descriptive Poem, 'The Six Bards' ; Macpherson's Another Ancient Fragment, " I try to show how the manuscript fits to the contemporary taste of sublime descriptive poetry with his characteristic imagery of bleak windy nights. I also observe that Macpherson depicted the chief bard as an ideal ancient man with detachedness of vicissitude, which is different from sentimental Ossianic characters.
Thirdly in "Thomas Gray and Development of Ideas on English Literary History", I trace development of historical ideas and consider how studies of literary history helped English literati to reevaluate their own early native poems. Then, considering Gray's ideas on English literary history, I argue that Gray was one of the eighteenth-century poets who set a new criteria of primitivism in poetry and took the lead in finding the value of English vernacular ancient poems.
As a research preparation I input both texts of Gray's works and correspondence with textual notes into a computer in order to facilitate referential and index research easily and thoroughly. Further considerations should be done for Gray's correspondence and his Commonplace Book as well as other collectors' materials to exemplify what and how he contributed to recovering English ancient poetry. Less
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Report
(4 results)
Research Products
(12 results)
