Chapman, George

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

George (1557-1634), an English poet and dramatist. He studied both at Oxford and at Cambridge. Little is known of his history except that he went to London while a young man, was a friend of Shakespeare, Marlowe, and Edmund Spenser, and, it is supposed, held some office in connection with the court. His first poem, so far as is known, was published in 1594. From that time on, he produced many dramas, both comedies and tragedies; many poems, and, of more importance, many translations of classical works. Chapman was the earliest, and is regarded by many critics as the best, English translator of The Iliad and The Odyssey. He was associated with Jonson and Marston in the production of Eastward Ho, which satirized the Scotch in such a manner as to incur the resentment of James I. Chapman and Marston were imprisoned and Jonson voluntarily shared their confinement. Among Chapman's comedies may be mentioned The Blind Beggar of Alexandria, and among tragedies Caesar and Pompey, Revenge for Honor, and two dramas on the life of Marshal Biron, which Swinburne characterizes as "a storehouse of lofty thought and splendid verse, with scarcely a flash or sparkle of dramatic action." QUOTATIONS FROM CHAPMAN. Man is a torch borne in the wind; a dream But of a shadow. An ill weed grows apace. They're only truly great who are truly good. Young men think old men are fools; but old men know young men are fools. 'T is good to be merry and wise. Enough's as good as a feast. Make ducks and drakes with shillings. ON FIRST LOOKING INTO CHAPMAN'S HOMER. Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold, And many goodly states and kingdoms seen; Round many western islands have I been Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold. Oft of one wide expanse had I been told That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne: Yet did I never breathe its pure serene Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold: Then felt I like some watcher of the skies When a new planet swims into his ken. --Keats. "Chapman was a wise, manly, but irregular genius, greater as a translator of Homer than as a dramatist."