The Poet Thomas Parnell was born in Ireland on 11th September 1679. He entered Trinity College Dublin at the unusually early age of thirteen and took the degree of M.A. in 1700. The same year (although a dispensation was needed on account of his being under age) he was ordained deacon by the Bishop of Derry. Three years after, he was ordained a priest; and in 1705, he was made Archdeacon of Clogher, by Sir George Ashe, bishop of that see. On receipt of the archdeanery, he married Miss Ann Minchin, by whom he had two sons, who tragically died young, and a daughter, who was to survive both parents. Parnell was blessed with great social qualities and soon fell in with the brilliant set of literary figures; Pope, Swift, Gay. He became a member of the Scriblerus Club, an informal gathering of authors based in London, in the early 18th century. Prominent figures from the Augustan Age of English letters were members; Jonathan Swift, Alexander Pope, John Gay, John Arbuthnot and Henry St. John. At about this time Parnell also wrote in the Spectator. To Pope, he was of essential service, assisting him in his notes to the Iliad, being, what Pope was not, a good Greek scholar. He wrote a life of Homer, which was prefixed to the Translation, although stiff in style, and flamboyant in statement. As a poet his legacy was not of the first order, but his poems were greatly appreciated as were his skills as essayist and translator. Parnell's poetry is lyrical and often is written in heroic couplets. It was said of his poetry 'it was in keeping with his character, easy and pleasing, enunciating the common places with felicity and grace.' He was also one of the so-called "Graveyard poets": his A Night-Piece on Death, widely considered the first "Graveyard School" poem, which was published posthumously in Poems on Several Occasions, collected and edited by his great friend Alexander Pope.