The Progress of Poesy: A Pindaric Ode

Gray’s “The Progress of Poesy” employs a rather broad definition of poetry. The speaker’s description of poetry in the first stanza as a “rich stream of music” (Line 7), and the art’s connection with the “Aeolian Lyre” (Line 1) work together to establish a definition of poetry that also contains music, dance, and breath. Part of the reason for this broad definition of poetry is related to the poem’s larger theme about poetry’s universality across human cultures.

The poem’s sixth stanza places a strong emphasis on the Muses’ finite quantity and their connection to place (See: Poem Analysis), but the preceding stanza places an even stronger emphasis on how poetry appears in unlikely places. Whether it be in “Chili’s boundless forests” (Line 59), or the northern perimeter of Europe where “shaggy forms o’er ice-built mountains roam” (Line 55), the speaker presents poetry as a part of human life. Unlike many later Romantic conceptions of poetry, which would place value in the poet’s self-expression, Gray’s speaker views poetry as a functional tool. The speaker describes how, when a Muse visits these remote locales, they “cheer the shivering native’s dull abode” (Line 57) or provide light “beneath the od’rous shade” (Line 58). In both of these instances, poetry provides the basic comforts and conditions for human life.