Joshua Sylvester

Frances Malpezzi (Kansas State University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.03: English Writing and Culture: Renaissance (Elizabethan and Jacobean periods) , 1485-1625.
Vol. editors: William M. Hamlin (Washington State University), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University), Ema Vyroubalova (Trinity College Dublin)

Dates

Born c. 1562
Died 1618
Activity 1590-1618

Places

Born in England
Active in England

Activities

Primary

Poet
Translator

Resources

Sylvester's Works

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Although popular in his own time, largely as a result of his translations of the poetry of a French Huguenot, Guillaume de Salluste, Sieur Du Bartas, today Josuah Sylvester has been relegated to a footnote in literary history. Yet he was immensely productive, writing original poetry and translating material not only by Du Bartas but from other French as well as Latin sources. His works, which emphasize religious and moral themes, were praised by literary connoisseurs in the early modern period and exerted an influence on a number of British writers as well as the American poet, Anne Bradstreet.

Details about Sylvester's early life are uncertain. He was born in Kent in 1562 or 1563 and was brought up by his maternal uncle, William Plumbe. When he was nine or ten years old he was enrolled

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1009 words

Citation: Malpezzi, Frances. "Joshua Sylvester". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 May 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4301, accessed 24 November 2024.]