George Chapman (Hitchin,
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...
, – London, 12 May 1634) was an English
dramatist
A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays.
Etymology
The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...
,
translator
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transl ...
and
poet
A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...
. He was a
classical scholar
Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...
whose work shows the influence of
Stoicism
Stoicism is a school of Hellenistic philosophy founded by Zeno of Citium in Athens in the early 3rd century BCE. It is a philosophy of personal virtue ethics informed by its system of logic and its views on the natural world, asserting tha ...
. Chapman has been speculated to be the
Rival Poet
The Rival Poet is one of several characters, either fictional or real persons, featured in William Shakespeare's sonnets. The sonnets most commonly identified as the Rival Poet group exist within the Fair Youth group in sonnets 78– 86. Several ...
of
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's sonnets by
William Minto, and as an anticipator of the
metaphysical poets
The term Metaphysical poets was coined by the critic Samuel Johnson to describe a loose group of 17th-century English poets whose work was characterised by the inventive use of conceits, and by a greater emphasis on the spoken rather than lyrica ...
of the 17th century. Chapman is best remembered for his translations of
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
's ''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Ody ...
'' and ''
Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Iliad'', ...
'', and the Homeric ''
Batrachomyomachia
The ''Batrachomyomachia'' ( grc, Βατραχομυομαχία, from , "frog", , "mouse", and , "battle") or ''Battle of the Frogs and Mice'' is a comic epic, or a parody of the ''Iliad'', commonly attributed to Homer, although other authors ha ...
''.
Life and work
Chapman was born at
Hitchin
Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842.
History
Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people, a tribe holding ...
in
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For gov ...
. There is conjecture that he studied at
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
but did not take a degree, though no reliable evidence affirms this. Very little is known about Chapman's early life, but Mark Eccles uncovered records that reveal much about Chapman's difficulties and expectations. In 1585 Chapman was approached in a friendly fashion by John Wolfall Sr., who offered to supply a bond of surety for a loan to furnish Chapman money "for his proper use in Attendance upon the then Right Honorable Sir Rafe Sadler Knight." Chapman's courtly ambitions led him into a trap. He apparently never received any money, but he would be plagued for many years by the papers he had signed. Wolfall had the poet arrested for debt in 1600, and when in 1608 Wolfall's son, having inherited his father's papers, sued yet again, Chapman's only resort was to petition the Court of Chancery for equity. As Sadler died in 1587, this gives Chapman little time to have trained under him. It seems more likely that he was in Sadler's household from 1577 to 1583, as he dedicates all his Homerical translations to him.
Chapman spent the early 1590s abroad, and saw military action in the
Low Countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
fighting under renowned English general Sir
Francis Vere
Sir Francis Vere (1560/6128 August 1609) was a prominent English soldier serving under Queen Elizabeth I fighting mainly in the Low Countries during the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) and the Eighty Years' War.
He was a sergeant major-general ...
. His earliest published works were the obscure philosophical poems ''
The Shadow of Night'' (1594) and ''Ovid's Banquet of Sense'' (1595). The latter has been taken as a response to the erotic poems of the age, such as
Philip Sidney
Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...
's ''
Astrophil and Stella'' and Shakespeare's ''
Venus and Adonis''. Chapman's life was troubled by debt and his inability to find a
patron
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
whose fortunes did not decline:
Robert Devereux, Second Earl of Essex, and the Prince of Wales,
Prince Henry Prince Henry (or Prince Harry) may refer to:
People
*Henry the Young King (1155–1183), son of Henry II of England, who was crowned king but predeceased his father
*Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal (1394–1460)
*Henry, Duke of Cornwall (Ja ...
. both met their ends prematurely. The former was executed for treason by
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen".
Eli ...
in 1601, and the latter died of
typhoid
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several d ...
fever at the age of eighteen in 1612. Chapman's resultant poverty did not diminish his ability or his standing among his fellow
Elizabethan
The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The symbol of Britannia (a female personific ...
poets and dramatists.
Chapman died in London, having lived his latter years in poverty and debt. He was buried at
St Giles in the Fields
St Giles in the Fields is the Anglican parish church of the St Giles district of London. It stands within the London Borough of Camden and belongs to the Diocese of London. The church, named for St Giles the Hermit, began as a monastery and ...
. A monument to him designed by
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones (; 15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was the first significant architect in England and Wales in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings.
As the most notable archit ...
marked his tomb, and stands today inside the church.
Plays
Comedies
By the end of the 1590s, Chapman had become a successful playwright, working for
Philip Henslowe
Philip Henslowe (c. 1550 – 6 January 1616) was an Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur and impresario. Henslowe's modern reputation rests on the survival of his diary, a primary source for information about the theatrical world of Renaissanc ...
and later for the
Children of the Chapel
The Children of the Chapel are the boys with unbroken voices, choristers, who form part of the Chapel Royal, the body of singers and priests serving the spiritual needs of their sovereign wherever they were called upon to do so. They were overseen ...
. Among his comedies are ''
The Blind Beggar of Alexandria
''The Blind Beggar of Alexandria'' is an Elizabethan era stage play, a comedy written by George Chapman. It was the first of Chapman's plays to be produced on the stage; its success inaugurated his career as a dramatist.
Performance and publi ...
'' (1596; printed 1598), ''
An Humorous Day's Mirth'' (1597; printed 1599), ''
All Fools'' (printed 1605), ''
Monsieur D'Olive'' (1605; printed 1606), ''
The Gentleman Usher
''The Gentleman Usher'' is an early 17th-century stage play, a comedy written by George Chapman that was first published in 1606.
Date and publication
''The Gentleman Usher'' was entered into the Stationers' Register on 26 November 1605, unde ...
'' (printed 1606), ''
May Day
May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. Tr ...
'' (printed 1611), and ''
The Widow's Tears
''The Widow's Tears'' is an early Jacobean play, a comedy written by George Chapman. It is often considered the last of Chapman's comedies, and sometimes his most problematic, "the most provocative and the most paradoxical of any of his dramat ...
'' (printed 1612). His plays show a willingness to experiment with dramatic form: ''An Humorous Day's Mirth'' was one of the first plays to be written in the style of "humours comedy" which
Ben Jonson
Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...
later used in ''Every Man in His Humour'' and ''Every Man Out of His Humour''. With ''The Widow's Tears'', he was also one of the first writers to meld comedy with more serious themes, creating the tragicomedy later made famous by
Beaumont and Fletcher
Beaumont and Fletcher were the English dramatists Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, who collaborated in their writing during the reign of James I (1603–25).
They became known as a team early in their association, so much so that their joi ...
.
He also wrote one noteworthy play in collaboration. ''
Eastward Ho'' (1605), written with Jonson and
John Marston, contained satirical references to the Scottish courtiers who formed the retinue of the new king
James I; this landed Chapman and Jonson in jail at the suit of Sir James Murray of Cockpool, the king's "rascal
y Groom of the Stool
The Groom of the Stool (formally styled: "Groom of the King's Close Stool") was the most intimate of an English monarch's courtiers, responsible for assisting the king in excretion and hygiene.
The physical intimacy of the role naturally le ...
. Various of their letters to the king and noblemen survive in a manuscript in the
Folger Library
The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materia ...
known as the ''Dobell MS'', and published by AR Braunmuller as ''A Seventeenth Century Letterbook''. In the letters, both men renounced the offending line, implying that Marston was responsible for the injurious remark. Jonson's "Conversations With Drummond" refers to the imprisonment, and suggests there was a possibility that both authors would have their "ears and noses slit" as a punishment, but this may have been Jonson elaborating on the story in retrospect.
Chapman's friendship with Jonson broke down, perhaps as a result of Jonson's public feud with
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones (; 15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was the first significant architect in England and Wales in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings.
As the most notable archit ...
. Some satiric, scathing lines, written sometime after the burning of Jonson's desk and papers, provide evidence of the rift. The poem lampooning Jonson's aggressive behaviour and self-believed superiority remained unpublished during Chapman's lifetime; it was found in documents collected after his death.
Tragedies
Chapman's greatest tragedies took their subject matter from recent French history, the French ambassador taking offence on at least one occasion. These include ''
Bussy D'Ambois
''The Tragedy of Bussy D'Ambois'' (1603–1607) is a Jacobean stage play written by George Chapman. Classified as either a tragedy or "contemporary history," ''Bussy D'Ambois'' is widely considered Chapman's greatest play, and is the earliest ...
'' (1607), ''
The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron
''The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron, Marshall of France'' is a Jacobean tragedy by George Chapman, a two-part play or double play first performed and published in 1608. It tells the story of Charles de Gontaut, duc de Biron, ...
'' (1608), ''
The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois
''The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois'' is a Jacobean revenge tragedy written by George Chapman. ''The Revenge'' is a sequel to his earlier ''Bussy D'Ambois,'' and was first published in 1613.
Genre and source
''The Revenge of Bussy'' is one in Cha ...
'' (1610) and ''
The Tragedy of Chabot, Admiral of France
''The Tragedy of Chabot, Admiral of France'' is an early seventeenth-century play, generally judged to be a work of George Chapman, later revised by James Shirley. The play is the last in Chapman's series of plays on contemporary French politics ...
'' (published 1639). The two ''Byron'' plays were banned from the stage—although, when the Court left London, the plays were performed in their original and unexpurgated forms by the Children of the Chapel. The French ambassador probably took offence to a scene which portrays Henry IV's wife and mistress arguing and physically fighting. On publication, the offending material was excised, and Chapman refers to the play in his dedication to Sir
Thomas Walsingham
Thomas Walsingham (died c. 1422) was an English chronicler, and is the source of much of the knowledge of the reigns of Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V, and the careers of John Wycliff and Wat Tyler.
Walsingham was a Benedictine monk who ...
as "poore dismembered Poems". His only work of classical tragedy, ''
Caesar and Pompey'' (written 1604, published 1631), although "politically astute", can be regarded as his most modest achievement in the genre.
Other plays
Chapman wrote The Old Joiner of Aldgate, performed by the Children of Paul's between January and February 1603 – a play which caused some controversy due to the similarities between the content of the play and ongoing legal proceedings between one John Flaskett (a local book binder) and Agnes How (to whom Flaskett was betrothed). The play was purchased from Chapman by Thomas Woodford & Edward Pearce for 20 marks (a considerable amount for such a work at the time) and resulted in a legal case that went before the Star Chamber.
Chapman wrote one of the most successful
masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment that flourished in 16th- and early 17th-century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant). A masq ...
s of the
Jacobean era
The Jacobean era was the period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of James VI of Scotland who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I. The Jacobean era succeeds the Elizabethan era and precedes the Ca ...
, ''
The Memorable Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn
''The Memorable Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn'' was a Jacobean era masque, written by George Chapman, and with costumes, sets, and stage effects designed by Inigo Jones. It was performed in the Great Hall of Whitehall Palace on ...
'', performed on 15 February 1613. According to
Kenneth Muir, ''The Masque of the Twelve Months'', performed on Twelfth Night 1619 and first printed by
John Payne Collier
John Payne Collier (11 January 1789, London – 17 September 1883, Maidenhead) was an English Shakespearean critic and forger.
Reporter and solicitor
His father, John Dyer Collier (1762–1825), was a successful journalist, and his connection ...
in 1848 with no author's name attached, is also ascribed to Chapman.
Chapman's authorship has been argued in connection with a number of other anonymous plays of his era.
F. G. Fleay proposed that his first play was ''The Disguises''. He has been put forward as the author, in whole or in part, of ''
Sir Giles Goosecap,'' ''Two Wise Men And All The Rest Fools,'' ''The Fountain of New Fashions,'' and ''
The Second Maiden's Tragedy
''The Second Maiden's Tragedy'' is a Jacobean play that survives only in manuscript. It was written in 1611, and performed in the same year by the King's Men. The manuscript was acquired, but never printed, by the publisher Humphrey Moseley a ...
.'' Of these, only 'Sir Gyles Goosecap' is generally accepted by scholars to have been written by Chapman (''The Plays of George Chapman: The Tragedies, with Sir Giles Goosecap,'' edited by Allan Holaday, University of Illinois Press, 1987).
In 1654, bookseller
Richard Marriot published the play ''Revenge for Honour'' as the work of Chapman. Scholars have rejected the attribution; the play may have been written by
Henry Glapthorne
Henry Glapthorne (baptised, 28 July 1610 – c. 1643) was an English dramatist and poet, baptized in Cambridgeshire, the son of Thomas Glapthorne and Faith ''née'' Hatcliff. His father was a bailiff of Lady Hatton, the wife of Sir Edward Co ...
. ''Alphonsus Emperor of Germany'' (also printed 1654) is generally considered another false Chapman attribution.
The lost plays ''The Fatal Love'' and ''A Yorkshire Gentlewoman And Her Son'' were assigned to Chapman in
Stationers' Register
The Stationers' Register was a record book maintained by the Stationers' Company of London. The company is a trade guild given a royal charter in 1557 to regulate the various professions associated with the publishing industry, including prin ...
entries in 1660. Both of these plays were among the ones destroyed in the famous kitchen burnings by
John Warburton's cook. The lost play ''Christianetta'' (registered 1640) may have been a collaboration between Chapman and
Richard Brome
Richard Brome ; (c. 1590? – 24 September 1652) was an English dramatist of the Caroline era.
Life
Virtually nothing is known about Brome's private life. Repeated allusions in contemporary works, like Ben Jonson's ''Bartholomew Fair'', ind ...
, or a revision by Brome of a Chapman work.
Poet and translator
Other poems by Chapman include: ''De Guiana, Carmen Epicum'' (1596), on the exploits of Sir
Walter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebelli ...
; a continuation of
Christopher Marlowe
Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (; baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights. Based upon t ...
's unfinished ''
Hero and Leander'' (1598); and ''Euthymiae Raptus; or the Tears of Peace'' (1609).
Some have considered Chapman to be the "
rival poet
The Rival Poet is one of several characters, either fictional or real persons, featured in William Shakespeare's sonnets. The sonnets most commonly identified as the Rival Poet group exist within the Fair Youth group in sonnets 78– 86. Several ...
" of
Shakespeare's sonnets (in sonnets 78–86), although conjecture places him as one in a large field of possibilities.
From 1598 he published his translation of the ''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Ody ...
'' in instalments. In 1616 the complete ''Iliad'' and ''
Odyssey
The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Iliad'', ...
'' appeared in ''The Whole Works of Homer'', the first complete English translation, which until Pope's was the most popular in the English language and was the way most English speakers encountered these poems. The endeavour was to have been profitable: his patron, Prince Henry, had promised him £300 on its completion plus a pension. However, Henry died in 1612 and his household neglected the commitment, leaving Chapman without either a patron or an income. In an extant letter, Chapman petitions for the money owed him; his petition was ineffective. Chapman's translation of the ''Odyssey'' is written in
iambic pentameter
Iambic pentameter () is a type of metric line used in traditional English poetry and verse drama. The term describes the rhythm, or meter, established by the words in that line; rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables called " feet". "Iam ...
, whereas his ''Iliad'' is written in
iambic heptameter. (The Greek original is in
dactylic hexameter
Dactylic hexameter (also known as heroic hexameter and the meter of epic) is a form of meter or rhythmic scheme frequently used in Ancient Greek and Latin poetry. The scheme of the hexameter is usually as follows (writing – for a long syllable ...
.) Chapman often extends and elaborates on Homer's original contents to add descriptive detail or moral and philosophical interpretation and emphasis. Chapman's translation of
Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
was much admired by
John Keats
John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculos ...
, notably in his famous poem "
On First Looking into Chapman's Homer
"On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" is a sonnet written by the English Romantic poet John Keats (1795–1821) in October 1816. It tells of the author's astonishment while he was reading the works of the ancient Greek poet Homer, who was fr ...
", and also drew attention from
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lak ...
and
T. S. Eliot.
Chapman also translated the ''
Homeric Hymns
The ''Homeric Hymns'' () are a collection of thirty-three anonymous ancient Greek hymns celebrating individual gods. The hymns are "Homeric" in the sense that they employ the same epic meter— dactylic hexameter—as the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'' ...
'', the ''
Georgics
The ''Georgics'' ( ; ) is a poem by Latin poet Virgil, likely published in 29 BCE. As the name suggests (from the Greek word , ''geōrgika'', i.e. "agricultural (things)") the subject of the poem is agriculture; but far from being an example ...
'' of
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: th ...
, ''The Works of
Hesiod
Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...
'' (1618, dedicated to
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...
), the ''
Hero and Leander'' of
Musaeus (1618) and the ''Fifth Satire'' of
Juvenal
Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ), was a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE. He is the author of the collection of satirical poems known as the '' Satires''. The details of Juvenal's life ...
(1624).
Chapman's poetry, though not widely influential on the subsequent development of English poetry, did have a noteworthy effect on the work of
T. S. Eliot.
Homage
In
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ; 4 August 17928 July 1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets. A radical in his poetry as well as in his political and social views, Shelley did not achieve fame during his lifetime, but recognition of his achi ...
's poem ''
The Revolt of Islam'', Shelley quotes a verse of Chapman's as
homage
Homage (Old English) or Hommage (French) may refer to:
History
*Homage (feudal) /ˈhɒmɪdʒ/, the medieval oath of allegiance
*Commendation ceremony, medieval homage ceremony Arts
*Homage (arts) /oʊˈmɑʒ/, an allusion or imitation by one arti ...
within his dedication "to Mary__ __", presumably his wife
Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also ...
:
There is no danger to a man, that knows
What life and death is: there's not any law
Exceeds his knowledge; neither is it lawful
That he should stoop to any other law.
The Irish playwright
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...
quoted the same verse in his part fiction, part literary criticism, "The Portrait of Mr. W.H.".
The English poet
John Keats
John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculos ...
wrote "
On First Looking into Chapman's Homer
"On First Looking into Chapman's Homer" is a sonnet written by the English Romantic poet John Keats (1795–1821) in October 1816. It tells of the author's astonishment while he was reading the works of the ancient Greek poet Homer, who was fr ...
" for his friend
Charles Cowden Clarke in October 1816. The poem begins "Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold" and is much quoted. For example,
P. G. Wodehouse in his review of the first novel of ''
The Flashman Papers
''The Flashman Papers'' is a series of novels and shorter stories written by George MacDonald Fraser, the first of which was published in 1969. The books centre on the exploits of the fictional protagonist Harry Flashman. He is a cowardly Bri ...
'' series that came to his attention: "Now I understand what that 'when a new planet swims into his ken' excitement is all about."
Arthur Ransome
Arthur Michell Ransome (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of childre ...
uses two references from it in his children's books, the
''Swallows and Amazons'' series.
Quotes
From ''All Fooles,'' II.1.170-178, by George Chapman:
I could have written as good prose and verse
As the most beggarly poet of 'em all,
Either Accrostique, Exordion,
Epithalamions, Satyres, Epigrams,
Sonnets in Doozens, or your Quatorzanies,
In any rhyme, Masculine, Feminine,
Or Sdrucciola, or cooplets, Blancke Verse:
Y'are but bench-whistlers now a dayes to them
That were in our times....
See also
*
Rival Poet
The Rival Poet is one of several characters, either fictional or real persons, featured in William Shakespeare's sonnets. The sonnets most commonly identified as the Rival Poet group exist within the Fair Youth group in sonnets 78– 86. Several ...
*
The School of Night
The School of Night is a modern name for a group of men centred on Sir Walter Raleigh that was once referred to in 1592 as the "School of Atheism". The group supposedly included poets and scientists Christopher Marlowe, George Chapman, Matthew R ...
*
Thomas Marc Parrott
Thomas Marc Parrott (1866–1960) was a prominent twentieth-century American literary scholar, long a member of the faculty of Princeton University in New Jersey.
Life and work
T. M. Parrott was born and raised in Ohio, the son of Col. Edwin ...
*
Louis de Bussy d'Amboise
Louis de Clermont, seigneur de Bussy d'Amboise (1549–1579) was a noble, military commander and governor during the French Wars of Religion. His great-uncle was Georges d'Amboise, who was the primary adviser to king Louis XII, as a result he inh ...
*
Charles de Gontaut, duc de Biron
Notes
Bibliography
* Chapman, George. ''The Tragedies, with Sir Gyles Goosecappe''. Ed. Allan Holaday. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1987. vol. 2 of ''The Plays of George Chapman''. 2 vols. 1970–87.
* ---. ''The Comedies''. Ed. Allan Holaday. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1970. vol. 1 of ''The Plays of George Chapman''. 2 vols. 1970–87.
* ---. ''The Plays of George Chapman''. Ed.
Thomas Marc Parrott
Thomas Marc Parrott (1866–1960) was a prominent twentieth-century American literary scholar, long a member of the faculty of Princeton University in New Jersey.
Life and work
T. M. Parrott was born and raised in Ohio, the son of Col. Edwin ...
. 1910. New-York: Russell & Russell, 1961.
* ---. ''George Chapman, Plays and Poems''. Ed. Jonathan Hudston. London: Penguin Books, 1998.
* ---. ''Bussy D'Ambois''. Ed. Nicholas Brooke. The Revels Plays. London: Methuen, 1964.
* ---. ''Bussy D'Ambois''. Ed. Robert J. Lordi. Regents Renaissance Drama. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1964.
* ---. ''Bussy D'Ambois''. Ed. Maurice Evans. New Mermaids. London: Ernst Benn Limited, 1965.
* ---. ''Bussy D'Amboise''. Ed. and trans. Jean Jacquot. Collection bilingue des classiques étrangers. Paris: Aubier-Montaigne, 1960.
* ---. ''The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron''. Ed. George Ray. Renaissance Drama. New-York: Garland Publishing, 1979.
* ---. ''The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles Duke of Byron''. Ed. John Margeson. The Revels Plays. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1988.
* ---. ''The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois''. Introd. David P. Willbern. Menston: The Scolar Press Limited, 1968.
* ---. ''The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois''. Ed. Robert J. Lordi. Salzburg Studies in English Literature. Jacobean Drama Studies 75. Salzbourg: Institut für Englische Sprache und Literatur, 1977.
* ---. ''The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois'' in ''Four Revenge Tragedies''. Ed. Katharine Eisaman Maus. Oxford English Drama. Oxford: OUP, 1995.
* ---. ''The Tragedie of Chabot Admirall of France''. Ed. Ezra Lehman. Philology and Literature 10. Philadelphia: Publications of the University of Philadelphia, 1906.
* ---. ''The Gentleman Usher''. Ed. John Hazel Smith. Regents Renaissance Drama Series. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1970.
* ---. ''The Poems of George Chapman''. Ed. Phyllis Brooks Bartlett. New-York: Modern Language Association of America, 1941.
* ---. ''Selected Poems''. Ed. Eirian Wain. Manchester: Carcanet – Fyfield Books, 1978.
* ---. ''Ouids Banquet of Sence. A Coronet for his Mistresse Philosophie, and his Amorous Zodiacke. With a Translation of a Latine Coppie, Written by a Fryer, Anno Dom. 1400''. London: I. R. for Richard Smith, 1595. Menston: The Scolar Press Limited, 1970.
* Chapman, George, trans. ''Homer's Odyssey''. Ed. Gordon Kendal. London: MHRA, 2016.
* ---. ''The Works of George Chapman: Homer's Iliad and Odyssey''. Ed.
Richard Herne Shepherd
Richard Herne Shepherd (1842–1895) was an English bibliographer.
Life
He was born at Chelsea early in 1842, a younger son of Samuel Shepherd, F.S.A. His grandfather, Richard Herne Shepherd (1775–1850), was from 1818 to 1848 a well-known Chris ...
. London: Chatto & Windus, 1875.
* ---. ''Chapman's Homer: The Iliad''. Ed. Allardyce Nicoll. Bollingen Series 41. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1998.
* ---. ''Chapman's Homer: The Odyssey''. Ed. Allardyce Nicoll. Bollingen Series 41. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2000.
* ---. ''George Chapman's Minor Translations: A Critical Edition of His Renderings of Musæus, Hesiod and Juvenal''. Ed.
Richard Corballis. Salzburg Studies in English Literature: Jacobean Drama Studies, 98. Salzbourg: Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, 1984.
* ---. ''Homer's Batrachomyomachia, Hymns and Epigrams, Hesiod's Works and Days, Musæus' Hero and Leander, Juvenal's Fifth Satire''. Ed. Richard Hooper. London: John Russel Smith, 1858.
* Chapman, George, Benjamin Jonson et John Marston. ''Eastward Hoe''. Ed. Julia Hamlet Harris. Yale Studies in English 73. New Haven: Yale UP, 1926.
* ---. ''Eastward Ho''. Ed. R. W. Van Fossen. The Revels Plays. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1979.
External links
''Monsieur D'Olive'' Online text''Hero and Leander'' Online textFive Chapman Plays Online.*
*
*
Chapman's Homer: The Iliad and The Odyssey*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, George
1550s births
1634 deaths
People from Hitchin
English Renaissance dramatists
16th-century English poets
17th-century English poets
16th-century English dramatists and playwrights
17th-century English dramatists and playwrights
17th-century male writers
Translators from Greek
Translators to English
16th-century English translators
Homeric scholars
Scholars of ancient Greek literature
Greek–English translators
English male dramatists and playwrights
English male poets
Translators of Homer