John Payne (23 August 1842 – 11 February 1916) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

. Initially he pursued a legal career and had associated with

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...

. Later he became involved with

limited edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

publishing and the Villon Society. He is now best known for his translations of

Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian people, Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so we ...

's ''

Decameron ''The Decameron'' (; it, label=Italian, Decameron or ''Decamerone'' ), subtitled ''Prince Galehaut'' (Old it, Prencipe Galeotto, links=no ) and sometimes nicknamed ''l'Umana commedia'' ("the Human comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Dan ...

'', ''

The Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...

'' and the Diwan

Hafez Khwāje Shams-od-Dīn Moḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shīrāzī ( fa, خواجه شمس‌‌الدین محمّد حافظ شیرازی), known by his pen name Hafez (, ''Ḥāfeẓ'', 'the memorizer; the (safe) keeper'; 1325–1390) and as "Hafiz", ...

. After completing his translation of Omar Khayyam, Payne returned to the rendition of Hafiz that was eventually published in 3 volumes. in 1901. Payne argues that Hafiz takes the "whole sweep of human experience and irradiates all things with his sun-gold and his wisdom". Payne once said that Hafez,

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

and

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

were the three greatest poets of the world.

Works

*The Masque of Shadows and other poems (1870) *Intaglios; sonnets (1871) *Songs of Life and Death. (1872) *Lautrec: A Poem (1878) *The Poems of François Villon.(1878) *New Poems (1880)
The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night
(1882–4) translation in nine volumes *Tales from the Arabic (1884) *The Novels of Matteo Bandello, Bishop of Agen (1890) translation in six volumes *The

Giovanni Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was somet ...

(1886
translation in three volumes
*Alaeddin and the Enchanted Lamp; Zein Ul Asnam and The King of the Jinn: (1889) editor and translator *The Persian Letters of Montesquieu (1897) translator *The Quatrains of Omar Kheyyam of Nisahpour (1898) *Poems of Master François Villon of Paris (1900)
The Poems of Shemseddin Muhammed Hafiz of Shiraz
(1901): translation in three volumes *Oriental Tales: The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night nd other tales (1901) verse and prose translation in 15 volumes, edited by Leonard C. Montesquieu Smithers *The Descent of the Dove and other poems (1902) *Poetical Works (1902) two volumes
Stories of Boccaccio
(1903) *Vigil and Vision: New Sonnets (1903) * Hamid the Luckless and other tales in verse (1904) *Songs of Consolation: New Poems (1904) *Sir Winfrith and other poems (1905) *Selections from the Poetry of John Payne (1906) selected by Tracy and Lucy Robinson *Flowers of France: Romantic Period (1906) *Flowers of France, The Renaissance Period (1907) *The Quatrains of Ibn et Tefrid (1908, second edition 1921) *Flowers of France: the Latter Days (1913) *Flowers of France: The Classic Period (1914) *The Way of the Winepress (1920) *Nature and Her Lover (1922) *The Autobiography of John Payne of Villon Society Fame, Poet and Scholar (1926)

Notes

External links

* * *
''Arabian nights'' (Volume 1–13)
translated by John Payne can be found online at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Payne, John 1842 births 1916 deaths English translators Translators of One Thousand and One Nights English male poets 19th-century British translators 19th-century English male writers English male non-fiction writers

Archives

Works

See also

Notes

External links