BIOGRAPHY

Phelps, William Lyon. Introduction to Selections from the Poetry and Prose of Thomas Gray, pp. xiiv-xxxix. Boston: Ginn & Company, Publishers, 1894.

Provides an overview of Gray's life and how his experiences affected his writings.

Rawson, Claude. Introduction to Collected Poems of Thomas Parnell, pp. 15-42. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1989.

Weaves together Parnell's experiences with summaries of his works.

CRITICISM

Brodwin, Stanley. “The ‘Denial of Death’ in William Cullen Bryant and Walt Whitman.” In William Cullen Bryant and His America: Centennial Conference Proceedings 1878-1978, pp. 113-31. New York: AMS Press, 1983.

Discusses how Bryant deals with death in his poetic works.

Fairchild, Hoxie Neale. “The Beginnings of Sentimentalism.” In Religious Trends in English Poetry, Vol 1, pp. 231-36. New York: Columbia University Press, 1939.

Points out inconsistencies in the works of Parnell defined as sentimentalism.

George, David B. “An Etymological Reading of Thomas Gray's ‘Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat’.” Classical Journal 82, No. 4 (April/May 1987): 329-30.

Looks at Gray's piece in terms of imagery, metaphor, and simile.

Kaul, Suvir. “Why Selima Drowns: Thomas Gray and the Domestication of the Imperial Ideal.” PMLA 105, No. 2 (March 1990): 223-32.

Contends that “Ode on the Death of a Favorite Cat” actually alludes to what should be the ideal state for women in an empire.

Morris, David B. “Poetic Practice.” In The Religious Sublime: Christian Poetry and Critical Tradition in 18th-Century England, pp. 145-54. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1972.

Analyzes Young's Night Thoughts, his strategies and message.

Phelps, William Lyon. “The Romantic Movement Exemplified in Gray.” In The Beginnings of the English Romantic Movement: A Study in Eighteenth Century Literature, pp. 155-70. New York: Gordian Press, 1968.

Provides commentary on Gray's works and how his career progressed in the direction of Romanticism.

Reed, Amy Louise. The Background of Gray's Elegy. New York: Columbia University Press, 1924, 265 p.

Discusses how poetry of the style and type of Gray's came to be written.

Smeall, J. F. S.. “Variants: ‘The Indian Burying Ground’ of Philip Freneau.” Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America 75, No. 3 (July-September 1981): 257-70.

Overview of various editions of Freneau's poem.

Whitburn, Merrill D. “The Rhetoric of Otherworldliness in Night Thoughts.” Essays in Literature 5, No. 2 (Fall 1978): 163-74.

Analyzes Young's poem in terms of God and man and argues that the poem was meant to steer the reader to think on things not of this world, but above.

Woodman, Thomas. “Parnell, Politeness, and ‘Pre-Romanticism’.” Essays in Criticism 33, No. 3 (July 1983): 205-19.

Discusses Parnell's poetic sophistication as well as his Christian themes.