George Chapman (c. 1559 – May 12, 1634) was an English dramatist, translator, and poet. He was a classical scholar, and his work shows the influence of Stoicism. He has been identified as the Rival Poet of Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Minto, and as an anticipator of the Metaphysical Poets. He is perhaps best remembered for his translations of Homer's Iliad, Odyssey, and Batrachomyomachia. Chapman was born at Hitchin in Hertfordshire. There is conjecture that he studied at Oxford but did not take a degree, though no reliable evidence affirms this. 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 Phillip Sydney's Astrophel and Stella and Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis. Chapman's life was troubled by debt and his inability to find a patron whose fortunes didn't decline. Chapman's erstwhile patrons Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and the Prince of Wales, Prince Henry, each met their ends prematurely; the former was executed for treason by Elizabeth I, and the latter died of typhoid fever at the age of eighteen. Chapman's resultant poverty did not diminish his ability or his standing among his fellow Elizabethan poets and dramatists. Chapman died in London, having lived his latter years in poverty and debt.
a coronet for his mistress, philosophy
Muses that sing love's sensual empery,
And lovers kindling your enraged fires
At Cupid's b...[read poem]
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And lovers kindling your enraged fires
At Cupid's b...
an excelente balade of charitie
In Virgynë the sweltrie sun gan sheene,
And hotte upon the mees did caste his raie;
T...[read poem]
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And hotte upon the mees did caste his raie;
T...
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