author
George Chapman
d. 1634
Best remembered for bringing Homer into vigorous English verse, this Elizabethan and Jacobean writer also made his mark as a playwright and poet. His work mixes classical learning with a serious, thoughtful style that later readers have found strikingly modern.
2 Audiobooks
Bussy D'Ambois and The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois
by George Chapman
Hero and Leander and Other Poems
by Christopher Marlowe, George Chapman
About the author
Born around 1559 and dying on 12 May 1634, George Chapman was an English poet, dramatist, and translator associated with the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean period. He is most often remembered for his translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, which were admired for their energy and ambition and remained influential for many years.
Chapman was also an accomplished man of the theater. He wrote comedies, tragedies, and collaborative plays, and his work shows a deep interest in classical ideas, especially Stoic thought. That learning gave his writing a dense, serious texture that sets him apart from many of his contemporaries.
Today, readers often come to Chapman through his Homer, but his original poetry and drama are important too. He stands out as a writer who tried to bring the scale and moral weight of the ancient world into English literature.