The rather reclusive Thomas Gray, one of the most esteemed poets of the eighteenth century, left a comparatively small body of work, highlights of which include An Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College (1747), An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard (1751), and a collection of Odes (1757) that included "The Progress of Poesy" and "The Bard" (1754).