Jasper Heywood
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Jasper Heywood (1535 – 9 January 1598) was an English
priest. He is known as the English translator of three Latin plays of Seneca, the Troas (1559), the Thyestes (1560) and Hercules Furens
(1561).
Life
He was son of
Society of Jesus.[1]
For seventeen years he was professor of
moral theology and controversy in the Jesuit College at Dillingen, in present-day Bavaria. In 1581 he was sent to England as superior of the Jesuit mission, but his leniency in that position led to his recall.[1]
On his way back to the Continent, a violent storm drove him back to the English coast. He was arrested on the charge of being a
priest, but, although efforts were made to induce him to abjure his opinions, he remained firm. He was condemned to perpetual exile on pain of death, and died at Naples on 9 January 1598.[1] His nephew was the poet and preacher John Donne
.
Works
Heywood's verse translations of Seneca were supplemented by other plays contributed by Alexander Neville, Thomas Nuce, John Studley and Thomas Newton. Newton collected these translations in one volume, Seneca, his tenne tragedies translated into Englysh (1581). The importance of this work in the development of English drama can hardly be overestimated.[1]
He also wrote four poems published in 1576 in the Elizabethan collection known as The Paradise of Dainty Devices.
See also
- Canons of Elizabethan poetry
References
- ^ a b c d Chisholm 1911.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Heywood, John s.v. Jasper Heywood". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 439. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- Dr. J.W. Cunliffe, On the Influence of Seneca upon Elizabethan Tragedy (1893).
- Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .