Thomas Edwards (fl. 1587–1595) was an English poet who published two

Ovidian Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

epic poems ''Cephalus and Procris'' and ''Narcissus''.

Charlotte Carmichael Stopes Charlotte Brown Carmichael Stopes (née Carmichael; 5 February 1840 – 6 February 1929), also known as C. C. Stopes, was a British scholar, author, and campaigner for women's rights. She also published several books relating to the life and wor ...

; ''Thomas Edwards, Author of "Cephalus and Procris, Narcissus"; ''The Modern Language Review'', Vol. 16, No. 3/4 (July–October, 1921), pp. 209–223. Beyond his name, nothing is known with certainty of Edwards. He has been provisionally identified with a

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

law student of that name who transferred from

Furnival's Inn Furnival's Inn was an Inn of Chancery which formerly stood on the site of the present Holborn Bars building (the former Prudential Assurance Company building) in Holborn, London, England. History Furnival's Inn was founded about 1383 when Wil ...

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in June 1587, where he shared a room with a known friend of

John Donne John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a clergy, cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's ...

. Edwards may have contributed the Latin verse to Adriaan van Roomen's ''Parvum theatrum urbium'', published in 1595.Matthew Steggle, 'Edwards, Thomas (fl. 1587–1595)',

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

, Oxford University Press, 2004.

''Cephalus and Procris'' and ''Narcissus''

Edwards's two known poems concern characters who all feature in

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

's poem

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his ''magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the wo ...

. Cephalus and

Procris In Greek mythology, Procris ( grc, Πρόκρις, ''gen''.: Πρόκριδος) was an Athenian princess as the third daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens and his wife, Praxithea, daughter of Phrasimus and Diogeneia. Homer mentions her in t ...

are a romantic couple.

Narcissus Narcissus may refer to: Biology * ''Narcissus'' (plant), a genus containing daffodils and others People * Narcissus (mythology), Greek mythological character * Narcissus (wrestler) (2nd century), assassin of the Roman emperor Commodus * Tiberiu ...

famously fell in love with his own reflection. Edwards's poems were published as a single volume in 1595; ''Cephalus and Procris'' is in

couplet A couplet is a pair of successive lines of metre in poetry. A couplet usually consists of two successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (or closed) couplet, each of the ...

form, ''Narcissus'' using a seven-line

stanza In poetry, a stanza (; from Italian language, Italian ''stanza'' , "room") is a group of lines within a poem, usually set off from others by a blank line or Indentation (typesetting), indentation. Stanzas can have regular rhyme scheme, rhyme and ...

. In the former, Edwards appears to be imitating Marlowe and in the latter Shakespeare. The author concluded each work with a long postscript. In ''Narcissus'' this includes, using aliases, references to other poets including Amintas ( Thomas Watson), Collyn (

Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of ...

), Leander (

Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe, also known as Kit Marlowe (; baptised 26 February 156430 May 1593), was an English playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. Marlowe is among the most famous of the Elizabethan playwrights. Based upon the ...

), Rosamond (

Samuel Daniel Samuel Daniel (1562–1619) was an English poet, playwright and historian in the late- Elizabethan and early- Jacobean eras. He was an innovator in a wide range of literary genres. His best-known works are the sonnet cycle ''Delia'', the epi ...

) and Adon (

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 ...

). A mysterious poet "in purple robes" praised at the end of the list has not been convincingly identified.

Reception

The book was not well received. Contemporaries such as

William Covell William Covell (died 1613) was an English clergyman and writer. Life He was born in Chadderton, Lancashire, England, and proceeded MA at Queens' College, Cambridge in 1588. In the 1590s Covell took part in the controversy about how far the new ...

and Thomas Nashe derided it. Covell listed it among the "smaller lights" of modern poetry. Nashe attacked it in his pamphlet ''

Have with You to Saffron-Walden "Have With You To Saffron-Walden, Or, Gabriell Harveys hunt is up" is the title of a pamphlet written by Thomas Nashe and published in London in late 1596 by John Danter. The work is Nashe's final shot in his four-year literary feud with Dr. Gab ...

''. No copies of the book were known until a portion of a copy was found in the Lamport Library of

Sir Charles Isham, 10th Baronet Sir Charles Edmund Isham, 10th Baronet (16 December 1819 – 7 April 1903) was an English landowner and gardener based at Lamport Hall, Northampton. He is credited with beginning the tradition of garden gnomes in the United Kingdom when he int ...

in 1867. A complete copy was subsequently discovered at the

Cathedral Library at Peterborough Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew – also known as Saint Peter's Cathedral in the United Kingdom – is the seat of the Church of England, Anglican Bishop of Peterborough, dedicated to Sain ...

. It was republished by the

Roxburghe Club The Roxburghe Club is a bibliophilic and publishing society based in the United Kingdom. Origins The spur to the Club's foundation was the sale of the enormous library of the Duke of Roxburghe (who had died in 1804), which took place over 46 days ...

in 1882. Before this the poem was only known by its title and the references to it by Nashe and others. Nashe appears to say that it was by written by

Anthony Chute Anthony Chute ( fl. 1590s – 1595) was an English poet and pamphleteer. Very little is known about him. Life Chute appears to have been a protégé of Gabriel Harvey. Harvey refers to him in his work ''Pierces Supererogation'', saying that Ch ...

. It was thus attributed to Chute until the actual book with its author's name on the title page was located. Various authors starting with Thomas Warton have suggested that Shakespeare satirised ''Cephalus and Procris'' in the ''Pyramus and Thisbe'' episode in ''

A Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...

'', supposedly written by an incompetent poet, Peter Quince. : Pyramus: ''Not Shafalus to Procrus was so true.'' :

Thisbe Pyramus and Thisbe are a pair of ill-fated lovers whose story forms part of Ovid's ''Metamorphoses''. The story has since been retold by many authors. Pyramus and Thisbe are two lovers in the city of Babylon who occupy connected houses. Their r ...

: ''As Shafalus to Procrus, I to you.'' ::(''Midsummer Night's Dream'', Act v. 1) However, this view has been generally discounted since the poem was located, as it bears no resemblance to the verses attributed to Peter Quince.W. E. Buckley, ed.; ''Cephalus and Procris; Narcissus''; Roxburghe Club; 1882; preface.

References

External links

''Cephalus and Procris; Narcissus'' at Internet Archive''Parvum theatrum urbium'' at Universiteitsbibliotheek Gent
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Thomas Year of death unknown Year of birth unknown 16th-century English poets English male poets