It began with one word

I love it when a new bit of knowledge comes my way in a most unexpected way. Today’s nugget of knowledge delighted me to no end.

It all began when I looked up the word madding on dictionary.com. I wasn’t sure if it was applicable in the sense that I was trying to use it. At the bottom of the page under the archaic definition was a quote by a man called Thomas Gray: “far from the madding crowd’s ignoble strife”.

And my immediate two thoughts were: Who was Thomas Gray and how does Thomas Hardy fit into this picture?

Here I found the 1751 poem by Thomas Grey, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (recommended...it is quite lovely). Nothing that I could see related to Thomas Hardy, so I did a Google search for Thomas Gray,Thomas Hardy.

Which, in turn, took me here and told me a little about Thomas Gray—that he was a reclusive gentleman-poet who wrote few poems, but this one earned him nearly instant fame and became the most reprinted poem of the 18th century.

And then I went here where I found information about Thomas Hardy that included:

2/16/1751 On this day in 1751, Thomas Gray’s “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” was published. Gray was a reclusive gentleman-poet and he did not write many poems, but this tribute to the humble life brought him immediate fame and the offer of the poet laureateship; it also became the most reprinted poem of the 18th century, one which Thomas Hardy would love and borrow from for his title, “Far From the Madding Crowd."

And, so, my questions were answered. Of course, in this day and age, Thomas Hardy would probably be sued for stealing a memorable line from another’s work. I’m glad that times were different then. Now I have a new poem to love and something additional to ponder when thinking about one of my favorite authors and his book, Far From the Madding Crowd. I’m probably one of the last to know this tiny nugget of info, but I’m still pretty pleased with myself this evening.