What question did this study set out to answer?

To provide a reliable edition of Tripos verses by Thomas Gray and Jacob Bryant, highlighting their friendship and the verses' context.

March 16, 2026Open Access

The Tripos Verses of Thomas Gray and Jacob Bryant

Key Points

To provide a reliable edition of Tripos verses by Thomas Gray and Jacob Bryant, highlighting their friendship and the verses' context.
Edition of poems based on the first printing from 1736/37
Comparison of earlier and later versions of the texts
Translation of Bryant’s work which was previously untranslatable
Commentary on the significance of the Tripos verse tradition and friendship dynamics.
Identified the original text of the Tripos verses for the first time
Clarified authorship and corrected misattributions of Bryant's work
Outlined textual differences between the first and subsequent printings
Demonstrated the collaborative nature of Gray and Bryant's writing.

Abstract

This article offers an edition of a set of Tripos verses by Thomas Gray (1716-1771) and Jacob Bryant (baptised 1717-1804) about the habitability of the moon and planets, based on its first printing (for the second Tripos day of 1736/37). All previous editions of both poems have used a corrupt later reprinting as copy-text, and Bryant’s work (which has never hitherto been translated) has regularly been misattributed. The commentary sets these verses in the context of the Tripos verse tradition and of the friendship between Gray and Bryant, and argues that the poems were written in conversation with each other and were originally read as such. Alongside giving the text and a translation of the verses, the edition provides a textual history and a collation of differences between the first and subsequent printing, suggesting that Bryant may have been responsible for some of the changes to his poem.

The Tripos Verses of Thomas Gray and Jacob Bryant

Key Points

Abstract

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