George Chapman, The Shadow of Night & Ovid’s Banquet of Sense

Zenón Luis-Martínez

George Chapman, The Shadow of Night & Ovid’s Banquet of Sense

Edited by Zenón Luis-Martínez

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George Chapman (1559-1634), English playwright

2 other titles

Critical Texts 74

Modern Humanities Research Association

6 January 2026 • 432pp

ISBN: 978-1-839546-13-6 (hardback) • RRP £61.99, $84.99, €70.49

ISBN: 978-1-781889-80-0 (paperback) • RRP £28.99, $39.99, €32.99

ISBN: 978-1-781889-81-7 (JSTOR ebook)

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RenaissanceEnglishPoetry

George Chapman (1559–1634) is mostly remembered as the first English translator of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, and as the author of a handful of plays for the Elizabethan and Jacobean stage. His poetry, however, has often been dogged by a reputation for obscurity. The poems contained in his first two published volumes, The Shadow of Night (1594) and Ovid’s Banquet of Sense (1595), have been considered among the most difficult in the language. Yet Chapman perceived difficulty as a vehicle for aesthetic innovation and philosophical audacity. While the two Homeric hymns of The Shadow of Night put their magical-religious invocations and mythological resourcefulness at the service of their author’s visionary ideas, the three amatory pieces of Ovid’s Banquet of Sense explore the limits of sensuality and eroticism in their pursuit of deeper truths.

This edition presents, for the first time, Chapman’s early poems in a fully annotated, modern-spelling text that attends both to their readability and to the full scope of their classical and humanist learning. Its comprehensive introduction, notes and commentary situate the poems in their Elizabethan literary context and offer insights into Chapman’s poetics of difficulty, his original style, his innovative treatment of genre, his creative transformation of sources and his daring intellectual ambitions. Chapman’s sometimes mysterious yet often dazzling verse makes up a lively, inventive corpus that will appeal to scholars, students and adventurous readers.

Taken together, the contents of Luis-Martínez’s introduction, notes and commentary are indispensable and will do much to clarify Chapman’s obscurity and elucidate his complexity, to the benefit of future readers and to the good of Chapman’s reputation. In short, Luis-Martínez’s edition will become the standard and is guaranteed a very long shelf-life. — Professor Jonathan Sell, University of Alcalá

Zenón Luis-Martínez is Professor of English at the University of Huelva, Spain.

Contents:

viii-x	Acknowledgements Zenón Luis-Martínez doi:10.2307/jj.36828004.3	Cite
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xi-xii	Abbreviations Zenón Luis-Martínez doi:10.2307/jj.36828004.4	Cite
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1-111	Introduction Zenón Luis-Martínez doi:10.2307/jj.36828004.5	Cite
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112-118	The Texts and the Present Edition Zenón Luis-Martínez doi:10.2307/jj.36828004.6	Cite
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123-124	To my dear and most worthy friend Master Matthew Roydon George Chapman doi:10.2307/jj.36828004.7	Cite
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125-142	HYMNUS IN NOCTEM George Chapman doi:10.2307/jj.36828004.8	Cite
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143-168	Hymnus in Cynthiam George Chapman doi:10.2307/jj.36828004.9	Cite
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175-177	To the truly learned, and my worthy friend, Master Matthew Roydon George Chapman doi:10.2307/jj.36828004.10	Cite
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177-180	Commendatory Sonnets George Chapman doi:10.2307/jj.36828004.11	Cite
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181-230	Ovid’s Banquet of Sense George Chapman doi:10.2307/jj.36828004.12	Cite
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231-237	A Coronet For His Mistress Philosophy George Chapman doi:10.2307/jj.36828004.13	Cite
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238-247	The Amorous Zodiac George Chapman doi:10.2307/jj.36828004.14	Cite
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248-403	Commentary Zenón Luis-Martínez doi:10.2307/jj.36828004.15	Cite
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404-410	Textual Notes Zenón Luis-Martínez doi:10.2307/jj.36828004.16	Cite
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411-414	Appendix: A Note On Chapman’s Prosody Zenón Luis-Martínez doi:10.2307/jj.36828004.17	Cite
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415-430	Bibliography Zenón Luis-Martínez doi:10.2307/jj.36828004.18	Cite
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431-433	Visual Sources: Paintings and Emblems Zenón Luis-Martínez doi:10.2307/jj.36828004.19	Cite
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434-434	Back Matter Zenón Luis-Martínez doi:10.2307/jj.36828004.20	Cite
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Cite this volume in standard MHRA style

Bibliography entry:

Luis-Martínez, Zenón (ed.), George Chapman, The Shadow of Night & Ovid’s Banquet of Sense, Critical Texts, 74 (MHRA, 2026)

First footnote reference: ³⁵ George Chapman, The Shadow of Night & Ovid’s Banquet of Sense, ed. by Zenón Luis-Martínez, Critical Texts, 74 (MHRA, 2026), p. 21.

Subsequent footnote reference: ³⁷ Luis-Martínez, p. 47.

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Cite this volume in MHRA author-date style

Bibliography entry:

Luis-Martínez, Zenón (ed.). 2026. George Chapman, The Shadow of Night & Ovid’s Banquet of Sense, Critical Texts, 74 (MHRA)

Example citation: ‘A quotation occurring on page 21 of this work’ (Luis-Martínez 2026: 21).

Example footnote reference: ³⁵ Luis-Martínez 2026: 21.

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