Thomas Gray
Thomas Gray (26 December 1716 – 30 July 1771) was an English poet, letter-writer, and classics, classical scholar at Cambridge University, being a fellow first of Peterhouse then of Pembroke College, Cambridge, Pembroke College. He is widely known for his ''Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard,'' published in 1751. Gray was a Self-criticism, self-critical writer who published only 13 poems in his lifetime, despite being very popular. He was even offered the position of Poet laureate, Poet Laureate in 1757 after the death of Colley Cibber, though he declined. Early life and education Thomas Gray was born in Cornhill, London. His father, Philip Gray, was a scrivener and his mother, Dorothy Antrobus, was a milliner. He was the fifth of twelve children, and the only one to survive infancy.John D. Baird, 'Gray, Thomas (1716–1771)', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (Oxford University Press, 2004Accessed 21 February 2012/ref> An 1803 newspaper article including a biog ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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:Template:Infobox Writer/doc
Infobox writer may be used to summarize information about a person who is a writer/author (includes screenwriters). If the writer-specific fields here are not needed, consider using the more general ; other infoboxes there can be found in :People and person infobox templates. This template may also be used as a module (or sub-template) of ; see WikiProject Infoboxes/embed for guidance on such usage. Syntax The infobox may be added by pasting the template as shown below into an article. All fields are optional. Any unused parameter names can be left blank or omitted. Parameters Please remove any parameters from an article's infobox that are unlikely to be used. All parameters are optional. Unless otherwise specified, if a parameter has multiple values, they should be comma-separated using the template: : which produces: : , language= If any of the individual values contain commas already, add to use semi-colons as separators: : which produces: : , pseu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Scrivener
A scrivener (or scribe) was a person who, before the advent of compulsory education, could literacy, read and write or who wrote letters as well as court and legal documents. Scriveners were people who made their living by writing or copying written material. This usually indicated secretary, secretarial and Administration (government), administrative duties such as Dictation (exercise), dictation and keeping business, judicial, and history, historical records for monarch, kings, nobility, nobles, temples, and municipality, cities. Scriveners later developed into notaries, court reporters, and in England and Wales, scrivener notaries. They were and are generally distinguished from scribes, who in the European Middle Ages mostly copied books; with the spread of printing this role largely disappeared, but scriveners were still required. Styles of handwriting used by scriveners included secretary hand, book hand and court hand. Current role Scriveners remain common mainly in co ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Antonio Vivaldi
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist, impresario of Baroque music and Roman Catholic priest. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe, giving origin to many imitators and admirers. He pioneered many developments in orchestration, violin technique and Program music, programmatic music. He consolidated the emerging concerto form, especially the solo concerto, into a widely accepted and followed idiom. Vivaldi composed many instrumental concertos, for the violin and a variety of other musical instruments, as well as Sacred Music, sacred choral works and List of operas by Antonio Vivaldi, more than fifty operas. His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as ''The Four Seasons (Vivaldi), The Four Seasons''. Many of his compositions were written for the all-female music ensemble of the , a home for abandoned children. Vivaldi b ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Babylon
Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-speaking region of Babylonia. Its rulers established two important empires in antiquity, the 19th–16th century BC Old Babylonian Empire, and the 7th–6th century BC Neo-Babylonian Empire. Babylon was also used as a regional capital of other empires, such as the Achaemenid Empire. Babylon was one of the most important urban centres of the ancient Near East, until its decline during the Hellenistic period. Nearby ancient sites are Kish, Borsippa, Dilbat, and Kutha. The earliest known mention of Babylon as a small town appears on a clay tablet from the reign of Shar-Kali-Sharri (2217–2193 BC), of the Akkadian Empire. Babylon was merely a religious and cultural centre at this point and neither an independent state nor a large city, s ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Rival Queens
''The Rival Queens, or the Death Of Alexander the Great'' is a Restoration tragedy written by Nathaniel Lee . Regarded as one of his best tragedies, the play revolves around Alexander the Great and his two wives, Roxana and Statira, whose competition for his affections ends in tragedy. The play was largely influenced by French dramatist La Calprenède's historic romance ''Cassandre''. Performance history The play was first performed at the Theatre Royal in London by the King's Company. The original cast included Charles Hart as Alexander, Michael Mohun as Clytus, Philip Griffin as Lysimachus, Thomas Clark as Hephestion, Cardell Goodman as Polyperchon, Edward Kynaston as Cassander, Martin Powell Martin Powell is an English musician. In 1991, Powell auditioned for the position of bass player in the band My Dying Bride, but was turned down as the band had just filled the position. Upon informing the band he was also a violin and keyboa ... as Philip, John Wiltshi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Nathaniel Lee
Nathaniel Lee (c. 1653 – 6 May 1692) was an English dramatist. He was the son of Dr Richard Lee, a Presbyterian clergyman who was rector of Hatfield and held many preferments under the Commonwealth; Dr Lee was chaplain to George Monck, afterwards Duke of Albemarle, but after the Restoration he conformed to the Church of England, and withdrew his approval for Charles I's execution. Lee was educated at Westminster School (though some sources say Charterhouse School), and at Trinity College, Cambridge, taking his B.A. degree in 1668. Coming to London, perhaps under the patronage of George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, he tried to earn his living as an actor, but acute stage fright made this impossible. His earliest play, ''Nero, Emperor of Rome'', was acted in 1675 at Drury Lane. Two tragedies written in rhymed heroic couplets, in imitation of John Dryden, followed in 1676: '' Sophonisba, or Hannibal's Overthrow'' and '' Gloriana, or the Court of Augustus Caesar''. Both ar ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lord Chancellor Of Ireland
The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland, commonly known as the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was the highest ranking judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 until the end of 1800, it was also the highest political office of the Irish Parliament; the Chancellor was Speaker of the Irish House of Lords. The Lord Chancellor was also Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of Ireland. In all three respects, the office mirrored the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. Origins There is a good deal of confusion as to precisely when the office originated. Until the reign of Henry III of England, it is doubtful if the offices of Irish and English Chancellor were distinct. Only in 1232 is there a clear reference to a separate Court of Chancery (Ireland). Early Irish Lord Chancellors, beginning with Stephen Ridell in 1186, were simply the English Chancellor acting through a Deputy. In about 1244 the decision was taken that there must be separate ho ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Richard West (Lord Chancellor Of Ireland)
Richard West (c. 1691 – 3 December 1726) was an English barrister, judge, playwright and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1721 to 1726. He served as Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1725 to 1726, succeeding Alan Brodrick, 1st Viscount Midleton. Background West was born in London, son of Richard West senior, a merchant (who outlived him). His sister married another merchant John Glover, and was the mother of Richard Glover the poet. The future poet is said to have been something of a favourite of his uncle. Career West was called to the Bar in 1714 and became one of its leaders in a remarkably short time; he was made King's Counsel and a Bencher of the Inner Temple in 1717. He was returned as member of parliament for Grampound at a by-election in 1721. At the 1722 general election he was returned as MP for Bodmin. In the House of Commons, he made his reputation as one of the managers of the impeachment of Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, the Lord Ch ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford (; 26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745), known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British Whigs (British political party), Whig statesman who is generally regarded as the ''de facto'' first Prime Minister of Great Britain, serving from 1721 to 1742. His formal titles included First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Leader of the House of Commons. Although the exact dates of Walpole's dominance, dubbed the "Robinocracy", are a matter of scholarly debate, the period 1721–1742 is often used. He dominated the Walpole–Townshend ministry, as well as the subsequent Walpole ministry, and holds the record as the List of prime ministers of the United Kingdom by length of tenure, longest-serving British prime minister. W. A. Speck, W. A. Speck wrote that Walpole's uninterrupted run of 20 years as prime minister "is rightly regarded as one of the major feats of British political history. Explanations a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Horace Walpole
Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London, reviving the Gothic style some decades before his Victorian successors. His literary reputation rests on the first Gothic novel, '' The Castle of Otranto'' (1764), and his ''Letters'', which are of significant social and political interest. They have been published by Yale University Press in 48 volumes. In 2017, a volume of Walpole's selected letters was published. The youngest son of the first British Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, he became the 4th and last Earl of Orford of the second creation on his nephew's death in 1791. Early life: 1717–1739 Walpole was born in London, the youngest son of British Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole and his wife, Catherine. Like his father, he received early educatio ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sport
Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in a particular sport can vary from hundreds of people to a single individual. Sport competitions may use a team or single person format, and may be Open (sport), open, allowing a broad range of participants, or closed, restricting participation to specific groups or those invited. Competitions may allow a "tie" or "draw", in which there is no single winner; others provide tie-breaking methods to ensure there is only one winner. They also may be arranged in a tournament format, producing a champion. Many sports leagues make an annual champion by arranging games in a regular sports season, followed in some cases by playoffs. Sport is generally recognised as system of activities based in physical athleticism or physical de ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ode On A Distant Prospect Of Eton College
"Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College" is an 18th-century ode by Thomas Gray. It is composed of ten 10-line stanzas, rhyming ABABCCDEED, with the B lines and final D line in iambic trimeter and the others in iambic tetrameter Iambic tetrameter is a meter (poetry), poetic meter in Ancient Greek poetry, ancient Greek and Latin poetry; as the name of ''a rhythm'', iambic tetrameter consists of four metra, each metron being of the form , x – u – , , consisting of a spo .... In this poem, Gray coined the phrase "Ignorance is bliss". It occurs in the final stanza of the poem: References English poems {{poem-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |