S ylvester, J oshua

Abstract

Joshua Sylvester (1562/63–1618), a minor English poet and merchant, is best known in England for his influential translations of French poet Guillaume de Saluste, sieur du Bartas, particularly the Christian epic La sepmaine, ou creation du monde . Completed in 1605, this translation, published as Bartas: his deuine weekes and workes , was immensely popular and influential in England: nine editions were published between 1592 and 1641; Gabriel Harvey considered the Deuine weekes on a par with works by Homer and Virgil; and John Milton's Christian epic, Paradise lost , was influenced by Sylvester's translation.