Thomas Edwards (poet): Difference between revisions
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The book was not well received. Contemporaries such as [[William Covell]] and [[Thomas Nashe]] derided the work; Covell listing it, among the "smaller lights" of modern poetry.<ref name=ODNB/> Nashe attacked it in his pamphlet ''[[Have with You to Saffron-Walden]]''. No copies of the book were known until a portion of copy was found in the [[Lamport, Northamptonshire|Lamport]] Library of [[Sir Charles Edmund Isham]] in 1867.<ref name=MLR/> The full copy was subsequently discovered at the [[Cathedral Library at Peterborough]]. It was republished by the [[Roxburghe Club]] in 1882. Before this the poem was only known by its title and the references to it by Nashe and others. Nashe appears to say that it was by written by [[Anthony Chute]]. It was thus attributed to Chute until the actual book was located. |
The book was not well received. Contemporaries such as [[William Covell]] and [[Thomas Nashe]] derided the work; Covell listing it, among the "smaller lights" of modern poetry.<ref name=ODNB/> Nashe attacked it in his pamphlet ''[[Have with You to Saffron-Walden]]''. No copies of the book were known until a portion of copy was found in the [[Lamport, Northamptonshire|Lamport]] Library of [[Sir Charles Edmund Isham]] in 1867.<ref name=MLR/> The full copy was subsequently discovered at the [[Cathedral Library at Peterborough]]. It was republished by the [[Roxburghe Club]] in 1882. Before this the poem was only known by its title and the references to it by Nashe and others. Nashe appears to say that it was by written by [[Anthony Chute]]. It was thus attributed to Chute until the actual book was located. |
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Various authors starting with [[Thomas Warton]] have suggested that Shakespeare satirised |
Various authors starting with [[Thomas Warton]] have suggested that Shakespeare satirised ''Cephalus and Procris'' in the ''Pyramus and Thisbe'' episode in ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]''. |
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:'''[[Pyramus]]:''' ''Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.'' |
:'''[[Pyramus]]:''' ''Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.'' |
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However, this view is now generally discounted.<ref>W.E. Buckley (Ed); ''Cephalus and Procris; Narcissus''; Roxburghe Club; 1882; preface</ref> |
However, this view is now generally discounted.<ref>W.E. Buckley (Ed); ''Cephalus and Procris; Narcissus''; Roxburghe Club; 1882; preface</ref> |
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The book disappeared from the record until a fragment was discovered |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Revision as of 17:03, 8 April 2011
Thomas Edwards (fl. 1587-1595) was an English poet who published two Ovidian epic poems Cephalus and Procris and Narcissus.[1] Beyond his has name, nothing is known with certainty of Edwards. He has been identified as probably the Shropshire law student who transferred from Furnival's Inn to Lincoln's Inn in June 1587; here Edwards shared a room with a known friend of John Donne.
Edwards possibly contributed the Latin verse to Adriaan van Roomen's Parvum theatrum urbium which was published in 1595.[2]
Cephalus and Procris and Narcissus
Edward's two known poems concern characters who all feature in Ovid's poem Metamorphoses. Cephalus and Procris are a romantic couple. Narcissus famously fell in love with his own reflection.
Edward's poems were published as a single volume in 1595; Cephalus and Procris in couplet form, Narcissus in a seven-line stanza.[2] In the first poem Edwards appears to be imitating Marlowe, and in the latter Shakespeare.[3]
The author concluded each work with a long postscript; in Narcissus this includes, using aliases, references to other poets including: Amintas (Thomas Watson); Collyn (Edmund Spenser); Leander (Christopher Marlowe) and Rosamond (Samuel Daniel). Others such as Adon have not been convincingly identified,[2] though the earliest academic edition of the poem identified Adon with Shakespeare, an argument recently reasserted by Katherine Duncan-Jones.[4]
Reception
The book was not well received. Contemporaries such as William Covell and Thomas Nashe derided the work; Covell listing it, among the "smaller lights" of modern poetry.[2] Nashe attacked it in his pamphlet Have with You to Saffron-Walden. No copies of the book were known until a portion of copy was found in the Lamport Library of Sir Charles Edmund Isham in 1867.[1] The full copy was subsequently discovered at the Cathedral Library at Peterborough. It was republished by the Roxburghe Club in 1882. Before this the poem was only known by its title and the references to it by Nashe and others. Nashe appears to say that it was by written by Anthony Chute. It was thus attributed to Chute until the actual book was located.
Various authors starting with Thomas Warton have suggested that Shakespeare satirised Cephalus and Procris in the Pyramus and Thisbe episode in A Midsummer Night's Dream.
- Pyramus: Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.
- Thisbe: As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.
- (Midsummer Night's Dream, Act v. 1)
However, this view is now generally discounted.[5]
References
- ^ a b Charlotte Carmichael Stopes; Thomas Edwards, Author of "Cephalus and Procris, Narcissus"; The Modern Language Review, Vol. 16, No. 3/4 (Jul. - Oct., 1921), pp. 209-223
- ^ a b c d Matthew Steggle, ‘Edwards, Thomas (fl. 1587–1595)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
- ^ Tucker Brooke et al.; The Renaissance: (1500-1660);Routledge, 1967; p406
- ^ Katherine Duncan Jones, ' Shakespeare, The Motley Player,’ in The Review of English Studies, NS, Vol.60 No 247, Oxford Uni Press 2009 pp.723-742, pp.724-6
- ^ W.E. Buckley (Ed); Cephalus and Procris; Narcissus; Roxburghe Club; 1882; preface
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