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George Chapman

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For other people named George Chapman, seeGeorge Chapman (disambiguation).

George Chapman
Chapman. Frontispiece engraving for The Whole Works of Homer (1616) attributed to William Hole
Chapman. Frontispiece engraving forThe Whole Works of Homer(1616) attributed toWilliam Hole
Bornc. 1559
Hitchin,Hertfordshire, England
Died(1634-05-12)12 May 1634
London
OccupationWriter
NationalityEnglish
PeriodElizabethan
GenreTragedy, translation
Notable worksBussy D'Ambois,translations ofHomer

George Chapman(c. 1559– 12 May 1634) was an Englishdramatist,translatorandpoet.He was aclassical scholarwhose work shows the influence ofStoicism.William Mintospeculated that Chapman is the unnamedRival PoetofShakespeare's sonnets. Chapman is seen as an anticipator of themetaphysical poetsof the 17th century. He is best remembered for his translations ofHomer'sIliadandOdyssey,and the HomericBatrachomyomachia.

Life and work[edit]

Chapman was born atHitchininHertfordshire.There is conjecture that he studied atOxfordbut 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.[1]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.[2]As Sadler died in 1587, this gives Chapman little time to have trained under him.

Chapman spent the early 1590s abroad, and saw military action in theLow Countriesfighting under renowned English general SirFrancis Vere.His earliest published works were the obscure philosophical poemsThe Shadow of Night(1594) andOvid's Banquet of Sense(1595). The latter has been taken as a response to the erotic poems of the age, such asPhilip Sidney'sAstrophil and Stellaand Shakespeare'sVenus and Adonis.

Chapman's life was troubled by debt and his inability to find apatronwhose fortunes did not decline:Robert Devereux, Second Earl of Essex,and the Prince of Wales,Prince Henryboth met their ends prematurely. The former was executed for treason byElizabeth Iin 1601, and the latter died oftyphoidfever at the age of eighteen in 1612. Chapman's resultant poverty did not diminish his ability or his standing among his fellowElizabethanpoets and dramatists.

Chapman died in London, having lived his latter years in poverty and debt. He was buried atSt Giles in the Fields.A monument to him designed byInigo Jonesmarked his tomb, and stands today inside the church.[3]

Plays[edit]

Comedies[edit]

By the end of the 1590s, Chapman had become a successful playwright, working forPhilip Hensloweand later for theChildren of the Chapel.Among his comedies areThe Blind Beggar of Alexandria(1596; printed 1598),An Humorous Day's Mirth(1597; printed 1599),All Fools(printed 1605),Monsieur D'Olive(1605; printed 1606),The Gentleman Usher(printed 1606),May Day(printed 1611), andThe Widow's Tears(printed 1612). His plays show a willingness to experiment with dramatic form:An Humorous Day's Mirthwas one of the first plays to be written in the style of "humours comedy" whichBen Jonsonlater used inEvery Man in His HumourandEvery Man Out of His Humour.WithThe Widow's Tears,he was also one of the first writers to meld comedy with more serious themes, creating the tragicomedy later made famous byBeaumont and Fletcher.

Grave marker of Chapman now inside the church ofSt Giles in the Fields,London. The memorial, in the form of a Roman altar, was designed and paid for byInigo Jones,and was previously in St Giles' churchyard.

He also wrote one noteworthy play in collaboration.Eastward Ho(1605), written with Jonson andJohn Marston,contained satirical references to the Scottish courtiers who formed the retinue of the new kingJames I;this landed Chapman and Jonson in jail at the suit of Sir James Murray of Cockpool, the king's "rascal[ly]"Groom of the Stool.[4]Various of their letters to the king and noblemen survive in a manuscript in theFolger Libraryknown as theDobell MS,and published by AR Braunmuller asA 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 withInigo Jones.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[edit]

Chapman's greatest tragedies took their subject matter from recent French history. These includeBussy D'Ambois(1607),The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron(1608),The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois(1610[5]) andThe Tragedy of Chabot, Admiral of France(published 1639). The twoByronplays were banned from the stage—although, when the Court left London, they were performed in their original and unexpurgated forms by the Children of the Chapel.[6]

The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Byronoffended the French ambassador, probably because it included a scene which portrayedHenry IV's wife and mistress arguing and physically fighting, andRobert Cecilwas persuaded to issue a warrant for Chapman's arrest. However,Ludovic Stuart, 2nd Duke of Lennox,appears to have intervened to prevent its execution.[7]On publication, the offending material was excised, and Chapman refers to the play in his dedication to SirThomas Walsinghamas "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.[8][9]

Other plays[edit]

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 oneJohn 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 successfulmasquesof theJacobean era,The Memorable Masque of the Middle Temple and Lincoln's Inn,performed on 15 February 1613. According toKenneth Muir,The Masque of the Twelve Months,performed on Twelfth Night 1619 and first printed byJohn Payne Collierin 1848 with no author's name attached, is also ascribed to Chapman.[10]

Chapman's authorship has been argued in connection with a number of other anonymous plays of his era.[11]F. G. Fleayproposed that his first play wasThe Disguises.He has been put forward as the author, in whole or in part, ofSir Giles Goosecap,Two Wise Men And All The Rest Fools,The Fountain of New Fashions,andThe Second Maiden's Tragedy.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, booksellerRichard Marriotpublished the playRevenge for Honouras the work of Chapman. Scholars have rejected the attribution; the play may have been written byHenry Glapthorne.Alphonsus Emperor of Germany(also printed 1654) is generally considered another false Chapman attribution.[12]

The lost playsThe Fatal LoveandA Yorkshire Gentlewoman And Her Sonwere assigned to Chapman inStationers' Registerentries in 1660. Both of these plays were among the ones destroyed in the famous kitchen burnings byJohn Warburton's cook. The lost playChristianetta(registered 1640) may have been a collaboration between Chapman andRichard Brome,or a revision by Brome of a Chapman work.

Poet and translator[edit]

Other poems by Chapman include:De Guiana, Carmen Epicum(1596), on the exploits of SirWalter Raleigh;a continuation ofChristopher Marlowe's unfinishedHero and Leander(1598); andEuthymiae Raptus; or the Tears of Peace(1609).

Some have considered Chapman to be the "rival poet"ofShakespeare's sonnets(in sonnets 78–86), although conjecture places him as one in a large field of possibilities.[13][14]

From 1598 he published his translation of theIliadin instalments. In 1616 the completeIliadandOdysseyappeared inThe 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 theOdysseyis written iniambic pentameter,whereas hisIliadis written iniambic heptameter.(The Greek original is indactylic hexameter.) Chapman often extends and elaborates on Homer's original contents to add descriptive detail or moral and philosophical interpretation and emphasis.

Chapman also translated theHomeric Hymns,theGeorgicsofVirgil,The Works ofHesiod(1618, dedicated toFrancis Bacon), theHero and LeanderofMusaeus(1618) and theFifth SatireofJuvenal(1624).

Chapman's translation ofHomerwas admired byAlexander Popefor "a daring fiery spirit that animates his translation, which is something like what one might imagine Homer himself would have writ", though he also disapproved of Chapman's roughness and inaccuracy.[15]John Keatsexpressed a fervent admiration of Chapman's Homeric authenticity in his famous poem "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer".Chapman also drew attention fromSamuel Taylor ColeridgeandT. S. Eliot.[16]

Homage[edit]

InPercy Bysshe Shelley's poemThe Revolt of Islam,Shelley quotes a verse of Chapman's ashomagewithin his dedication "to Mary__ __", presumably his wifeMary Shelley:

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.[17]

The Irish playwrightOscar Wildequoted the same verse in his part fiction, part literary criticism, "The Portrait of Mr. W.H.".[18]

The English poetJohn Keatswrote "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer"for his friendCharles Cowden Clarkein October 1816. The poem begins "Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold" and is much quoted. For example,P. G. Wodehousein his review of the first novel ofThe Flashman Papersseries that came to his attention: "Now I understand what that 'when a new planet swims into his ken' excitement is all about."[19]Arthur Ransomeuses two references from it in his children's books, theSwallows and Amazonsseries.[20]

Quotes[edit]

See also:English translations of Homer § Chapman

FromAll 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[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^Mark Eccles, "Chapman's Early Years",Studies in Philology43.:2 (April 1946):176-93.
  2. ^For the text of Chapman's petition for relief, see A. R. Braunmuller,A Seventeenth Century Letter-Book: A Facsimile Edition of Folger MS. V. A. 321(Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1983), 395.
  3. ^Thornbury, Walter. "St Giles-in-the-Fields."Old and New London: Volume 3.London: Cassell, Petter & Galpin, 1878. 197-218.British History OnlineRetrieved 28 April 2023.
  4. ^Donaldson, Ian (2011).Ben Jonson: a life.Oxford University Press. p. 209.ISBN9780198129769.
  5. ^324, Daiches
  6. ^Grace Ioppolo,Dramatists and Their Manuscripts in the Age of Shakespeare, Jonson, Middleton and Heywood,London, Routledge, 2006; p. 129.
  7. ^Bergerson, David M. (2022),The Duke of Lennox, 1574 - 1624: A Jacobean Courtier,Edinburgh University Press,pp 173 - 174,ISBN9781399500456,
  8. ^Birch, Dinah,ed. (2009). "Caesar and Pompey".The Oxford companion to English literature(7 ed.). Oxford University Press.ISBN9780192806871.
  9. ^Spivack, Charlotte (1967).George Chapman.New York: Twayne. p.144.OCLC251374727.
  10. ^Martin Butler: George Chapman's Masque of the Twelve Months (1619). In:English Literary Renaissance37 (Nov. 2007); pp. 360–400.
  11. ^Terence P. Logan and Denzell S. Smith, eds.,The New Intellectuals: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama,Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1977; pp. 155–60.
  12. ^Logan, Terence P., and Denzell S. Smith, eds.The Popular School: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama.Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1975; pp. 151–7.
  13. ^Reid, Lindsay Ann (17 December 2014)."The Spectre of the School of Night: Former Scholarly Fictions and the Stuff of Academic Fiction".Early Modern Literary Studies(23). Sheffield Hallam University.: 1–31.ISSN1201-2459.Retrieved19 October2018.
  14. ^Ellis, David (2013).The truth about William Shakespeare: fact, fiction and modern biographies.Edinburgh University Press. p. 72.ISBN9780748653881.
  15. ^Alexander Pope, "Preface" to 'The Iliad of Homer'
  16. ^Matthews, Steven. "T. S. Eliot's Chapman: 'Metaphysical' Poetry and Beyond."Journal of Modern LiteratureVol. 29 No. 4 (Summer 2006), pp. 22–43.
  17. ^Hutchinson, Thomas (undated).The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley: Including Materials Never Before Printed in any Edition of the Poems & Edited with Textural Notes.E. W. Cole: Commonwealth of Australia; Book Arcade, Melbourne. p. 38. (NB: Hardcover, clothbound, em Boss ed.) Published prior to issuing of ISBN.
  18. ^Wilde, Oscar (2003). "The Portrait of Mr. W.H.".Hesperus PressLimited 4 Rickett Street, London SW6 1RU. p. 46. First published 1921.
  19. ^Quoted on current UK imprint of Flashman novels as cover blurb.
  20. ^Findlay, Kirsty Nichol, ed. (2011).Arthur Ransome's long-lost study of Robert Louis Stevenson.Woodbridge, England: Boydell. p. 112.ISBN9781843836728.

Bibliography[edit]

  • Chapman, George.The Tragedies, with Sir Gyles Goosecappe.Ed. Allan Holaday. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1987. vol. 2 ofThe Plays of George Chapman.2 vols. 1970–87.
  • ---.The Comedies.Ed. Allan Holaday. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1970. vol. 1 ofThe Plays of George Chapman.2 vols. 1970–87.
  • ---.The Plays of George Chapman.Ed.Thomas Marc Parrott.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'AmboisinFour 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.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.

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