The language of the age is never the language of poetry, except among the French, whose verse, where the thought or image does not support it, differs in nothing from prose.


letter to Richard West, 8 April 1742, in H. W. Starr (ed.) Correspondence of Thomas Gray (1971) vol. 1


The language of the age is never the language of poetry, except among the French, whose verse, where the thought or image does not support it,...

The language of the age is never the language of poetry, except among the French, whose verse, where the thought or image does not support it,...

The language of the age is never the language of poetry, except among the French, whose verse, where the thought or image does not support it,...

The language of the age is never the language of poetry, except among the French, whose verse, where the thought or image does not support it,...