The Art of the Sublime

Thomas Gray’s poem The Bard, published in 1757, was based on the now-discredited tradition that Edward I ordered the massacre of the Welsh bards; Gray describes how the sole surviving bard stood on Snowdon and cursed King Edward before throwing himself into the River Conway beneath. It is one of the earliest literary treatments of passionate and heroic action in a wild, natural setting which links the sublime with the Romantic movement. It inspired many artists, including Benjamin West, de Loutherbourg, Blake, Fuseli, Turner and John Martin. Here, the bard holds a harp, associated with the bardic tradition and a symbol of Wales.