Ode for Music Thomas Gray Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
Taylor Institution Library St Giles' Oxford OX1 3NA UK info@eighteenthcenturypoetry.org https://www.eighteenthcenturypoetry.org/
Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Gray, Thomas, 1716-1771. Thomas Gray: English poems. Web. Oxford Thomas Gray Archive 2002 pp. []-[]. http://www.thomasgray.org/texts/poems.shtml

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Ode for Music Air ' Hence , avaunt , ( 'tis holy ground ) ' Comus and his midnight-crew , ' And Ignorance with looks profound , ' And dreaming Sloth of pallid hue , ' Mad Sedition's cry profane , ' Servitude that hugs her chain , ' Nor in these consecrated bowers ' Let painted Flattery hide her serpent-train in flowers . Chorus ' Nor Envy base nor creeping Gain ' Dare the Muse's walk to stain , ' While bright-eyed Science watches round : ' Hence , away , 'tis holy ground ! ' Recitative From yonder realms of empyrean day Bursts on my ear the indignant lay : There sit the sainted sage , the bard divine , The few whom genius gave to shine Through every unborn age and undiscovered clime . Rapt in celestial transport they , ( accomp . ) Yet hither oft a glance from high They send of tender sympathy To bless the place , where on their opening soul First the genuine ardour stole . 'Twas Milton struck the deep-toned shell , And , as the choral warblings round him swell , Meek Newton's self bends from his state sublime , And nods his hoary head and listens to the rhyme . Air ' Ye brown o'er-arching groves , ' That Contemplation loves , ' Where willowy Camus lingers with delight ! ' Oft at the blush of dawn ' I trod your level lawn , ' Oft wooed the gleam of Cynthia silver-bright ' In cloisters dim , far from the haunts of Folly , ' With Freedom by my side , and soft-eyed Melancholy . ' Recitative But hark ! the portals sound and , pacing forth With solemn steps and slow , High potentates and dames of royal birth And mitred fathers in long order go : Great Edward with the lilies on his brow From haughty Gallia torn , And sad Chatillon , on her bridal morn That wept her bleeding love , and princely Clare , And Anjou's heroine , and the paler rose , The rival of her crown and of her woes , And either Henry there , The murthered saint and the majestic lord , That broke the bonds of Rome , ( Their tears , their little triumphs o'er , ( accomp . ) Their human passions now no more , Save charity , that glows beyond the tomb ) . All that on Granta's fruitful plain Rich streams of regal bounty poured , And bade these awful fanes and turrets rise , To hail their Fitzroy's festal morning come ; And thus they speak in soft accord The liquid language of the skies . Quartetto ' What is grandeur , what is power ? ' Heavier toil , superior pain . ' What the bright reward we gain ? ' The grateful memory of the good . ' Sweet is the breath of vernal shower , ' The bee's collected treasures sweet , ' Sweet music's melting fall , but sweeter yet ' The still small voice of gratitude . ' Recitative Foremost and leaning from her golden cloud The venerable Margaret see ! ' Welcome , my noble son , ' ( she cries aloud ) ' To this , thy kindred train , and me : ' Pleased in thy lineaments we trace ' A Tudor's fire , a Beaufort's grace . Air ' Thy liberal heart , thy judging eye , ' The flower unheeded shall descry , ' And bid it round heaven's altars shed ' The fragrance of its blushing head : ' Shall raise from earth the latent gem ' To glitter on the diadem . Recitative ' Lo , Granta waits to lead her blooming band , ' Not obvious , not obtrusive , she ' No vulgar praise , no venal incense flings ; ' Nor dares with courtly tongue refined ' Profane thy inborn royalty of mind : ' She reveres herself and thee . ' With modest pride to grace thy youthful brow ' The laureate wreath , that Cecil wore , she brings , ' And to thy just , thy gentle hand ' Submits the fasces of her sway , ' While spirits blest above and men below ' Join with glad voice the loud symphonious lay . Grand Chorus ' Through the wild waves as they roar ' With watchful eye and dauntless mien ' Thy steady course of honour keep , ' Nor fear the rocks nor seek the shore : ' The star of Brunswick smiles serene , ' And gilds the horrors of the deep . ' FINIS