47-563: Pierce Penniless his Supplication to the Divell is a tall tale, or a prose satire, written by Thomas Nashe and published in London in 1592. It was among the most popular of the Elizabethan pamphlets. It was reprinted in 1593 and 1595, and in 1594 was translated into French. It is written from the point of view of Pierce, a man who has not met with good fortune, who now bitterly complains of
94-603: A sizar , gaining his bachelor's degree in 1586. From references in his own polemics and those of others, he does not seem to have proceeded Master of Arts there. Most of his biographers agree that he left his college about summer 1588, as his name appears on a list of students due to attend philosophy lectures in that year. His reasons for leaving are unclear; his father may have died the previous year, but Richard Lichfield maliciously reported that Nashe had fled possible expulsion for his role in Terminus et non-terminus , one of
141-468: A "show" with some resemblance to a masque . In brief, the plot describes the death of Summer, who, feeling himself to be dying, reviews the performance of his former servants and eventually passes the crown on to Autumn. The play was published in 1600. Nashe is widely remembered for three short poems, all drawn from this play and frequently reprinted in anthologies of Elizabethan verse: “Adieu, farewell, earth’s bliss,” “Fair summer droops” and “Autumn hath all
188-542: A Parrot (1590), ostensibly credited to one "Cutbert Curry-knave", is now universally recognised as Nashe's work, although its author humorously claims, in its dedication to the comedian William Kempe , to have met Harlequin in Bergamo while returning from a trip to Venice in the summer of 1589. But there is no evidence Nashe had either time or means to go abroad, and he never subsequently refers to having visited Venice in his work. His friendship with Greene drew Nashe into
235-477: A barber of Cambridge. Harvey did not publish a reply, but Lichfield answered in a tract called "The Trimming of Thomas Nash," (1597). This pamphlet also contained a crude woodcut portrait of Nashe, shown as a man disreputably dressed and in fetters . While staying in the household of Archbishop John Whitgift at Croydon Palace in October 1592 he wrote an entertainment called Summer's Last Will and Testament ,
282-711: A circle of Puritan writers, who waged a pamphlet war and wrote under the pseudonym Martin Marprelate. The text of Pierce Penniless contains an attack on both Richard Harvey, the astrologer, and on his fellow Marinists Near the midpoint of the story, Nashe's salvo begins: In the "Private Epistle of the Author to the Printer", which prefaces the second edition of Pierce Penniless , Nashe refers to another pamphlet entitled Greene's Groats-Worth of Wit (1592), which contains this well known attack on William Shakespeare: From
329-453: A lot perhaps", but points out that "there is nothing second hand" about Nashe's "evocations of sex." In 1594, Nashe wrote a book titled The Terrors of the Night; Or A Discourse of Apparitions , which sceptically considers dreams, nightmares, and apparitions, which Nashe considers born of superstition, melancholy or imagination. He says, "A dream is nothing else but a bubbling scum or froth of
376-462: A major controversy for its "seditious" content. The play was suppressed and never published. Jonson was jailed; Nashe's house was raided and his papers seized but he had already escaped to the country. He remained for some time in Great Yarmouth before returning to London. Pierce Penniless, His Supplication to the Divell is a tall tale, or a prose satire, published in 1592. It was among
423-498: A person might pawn his soul to the Devil for a thousand pounds, Pierce decides to seek a solution in that direction and appeal to the Devil, reasoning that if the Devil were to remove certain souls from the land of the living and recruit them into his domain where they belong, it would liberate and make available the wealth that they've been hoarding: Gold—that "mighty controller of fortune and imperious subverter of destiny, delicious gold,
470-448: A stern old man. This serves to give the "ancient" perspective on the actions of the plaintiff. Prosopopoeiae can also be used to take some of the load off the communicator by placing an unfavorable point of view on the shoulders of an imaginary stereotype. The audience's reactions are predisposed to go towards this figment rather than the communicator himself. This term also refers to a figure of speech in which an animal or inanimate object
517-484: A variety of material: Satires, war-of-words, anonymous attacks, topical issues, poetry, fiction, etc. Shakespeare , in the dedication to his poem The Rape of Lucrece refers to its quarto publication as a pamphlet. Pamphlets also offered playwrights an opportunity to write and be published in those times when the plague had closed the theatres. Such was the case with Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis and Nashe's Pierce Penniless , which were both written and published when
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#1732794610277564-513: Is a rhetorical device in which a non-human element speaks or is spoken to as a human. The term derives from the Greek words prósopon ( transl. face, person ) and poiéin ( transl. to make, to do ). Prosopopoeiae are used mostly to give another perspective on the action being described. For example, in Cicero's Pro Caelio , Cicero speaks as Appius Claudius Caecus,
611-465: Is ascribed human characteristics or is spoken of in anthropomorphic language. Quintilian writes of the power of this figure of speech to "bring down the gods from heaven, evoke the dead, and give voices to cities and states" ( Institutes of Oratory Book IX Chapter 2). Prosopopoeia is the title of the English translation of Farid Tali 's French novel in which the central narrative is spoken through
658-512: Is based on the medieval theme of the Seven Deadly Sins, and enumerates each vice one after the other: Greed, and his wife Dame Niggardise; Pride and his mistress, Lady Swine-Snout; gluttony; sloth; etc. Each vice is personified in the manner of a prosopopoeia , and provides an opportunity for the story to introduce various sinners, who are described with rich detail—as though they are costumed to appear onstage. The section devoted to
705-444: Is immediately followed by a kind of rueful confession that seems to have left a door open for interpretation: Nashe's character, "Pierce", occasionally has some harsh words for his unnamed fellow authors, which has led to speculation about who they might be. Nashe refers to them variously as sonnet-composing "upstarts", who are not as well-born or as well educated as himself, who have little Latin, but who are enjoying popular success in
752-500: Is prematurely satisfied—"the well is drye that should refresh". Mistress Frances then decides to take matters into her own hands, reaches for the device of the poem's informal title, Nashe's Dildo . My little dildo shall suplye their kind, A knave that moves as light as leaves by winde; That bendeth not, nor fouldeth anie deale, But stands as stiff as he were made of steele, And plays at peacock twixt my leggs right blythe. This poem comes to an end with Tomalin ranting against
799-444: Is revealed. Unfortunately Tomalin finds the moment so exciting that he "spends" his all before the "fight" has begun. Mistress Frances is disappointed and does what she can to revive things. "Unhappyie me," quoth she, "and wilt not stand? Com, let me rubb and chafe it with my hand!" She perseveres in arousing him, is successful, and they make love. This begins a lengthy and witty erotic passage. But to her disappointment, Tomalin
846-405: Is told in a style that is complex, witty, anecdotal, and peppered with newly-minted words and Latin phrases. The satire can be mocking and bitingly sharp, and at times Nashe’s style seems to relish its own obscurity. At some time in the early 1590s Nashe produced an erotic poem, The Choise of Valentines that begins with a sonnet to "Lord S". It has been suggested that The Choise of Valentines
893-546: The Earl of Southampton . Thomas Nashe Thomas Nashe (baptised 30 November 1567 – c. 1601; also Nash ) was an Elizabethan playwright, poet, satirist and a significant pamphleteer . He is known for his novel The Unfortunate Traveller , his pamphlets including Pierce Penniless , and his numerous defences of the Church of England . Nashe was the son of the parson William Nashe and Janeth (née Witchingham). He
940-503: The "Eunike dilldo" that has taken his place. It was sharply criticised for its obscenity by contemporary authors Joseph Hall and John Davies of Hereford . Nashe had tried to pre-empt criticism by placing it in the tradition of classical erotica: "Yet Ovid's wanton muse did not offend". It appears not to have been Nashe's only foray into this category of writing. When he was accused of "prostituting" his pen, he answered, in 1596, by writing: It may and it may not bee so ... [but] when ...
987-570: The Harvey controversy, involving the brothers Richard and Gabriel Harvey . In 1590, Richard Harvey's The Lamb of God complained of the anti-Martinist pamphleteers in general, including a side-swipe at the Menaphon preface. Two years later, Greene's A Quip for an Upstart Courtier contained a passage on "rope makers" that clearly refers to the Harveys (whose father made ropes). The passage, which
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#17327946102771034-506: The Knight of the Post a question that was of interest to Elizabethan Londoners: What is the nature of Hell and the Devil? The Knight begins to answer, but digresses into a story: the allegory of the wickedness of the bear, "a right earthly devil", which is seen as a reference to the Earl of Leicester . Nashe's tale ends abruptly with the praises of a nobleman named Amuntas, who is believed to be
1081-465: The Valentine's Day visit of a young man named 'Tomalin' to the brothel where his lover, "Mistris Francis", has recently become employed. Tomalin poses as a customer. Having paid ten gold pieces for her favours, Tomalin makes his way towards his erotic goal. And make me happie, stealing by degrees. First bare hir legs, then creepe up to her knees ... The object of his desire, "A pretty rising womb",
1128-427: The autumn of 1592. William Sommers , whose comments frame the play, was Henry VIII 's jester. It includes the famous lyric: Adieu, farewell earths blisse, This world uncertaine is, Fond are lifes lustful joyes, Death proves them all but toyes, None from his darts can flye; I am sick, I must dye: Lord, have mercy on us. In 1597 Nashe co-wrote the play The Isle of Dogs with Ben Jonson . The work caused
1175-462: The bottom of my purse is turnd downeward, & my conduit of incke will no longer flowe for want of reparations, I am faine to let my Plow stand still in the midst of a furrow, and follow some of these new-fangled Galiardos and Senior Fantasticos , to whose amorous Villanellas and Quipassas I prostitute my pen in hope of gaine. On the question of what this poem might say about Nashe's own sexuality, Nashe biographer Charles Nicholl , says "not
1222-487: The erotic poem The Choise of Valentines and his name appears on the title page of Christopher Marlowe 's Dido, Queen of Carthage , though there is uncertainty as to what Nashe's contribution was. Some editions of this play, still extant in the 18th century but now unfortunately lost, contained memorial verses on Marlowe by Nashe, who was his friend. Prosopopoeia A prosopopoeia ( ‹See Tfd› Greek : προσωποποιία , / p r ɒ s oʊ p oʊ ˈ p iː ə / )
1269-545: The fancy which the day hath left undigested, or an after-feast made of the fragments of idle imagination". He dismisses efforts to interpret dreams, saying "What sense is there that the yolk of an egg should signify gold… that everything must be interpreted backward as Witches say their pater-noster, good being the character of bad, and bad of good." He disregards various spirits mentioning "Robbin-good-fellowes, elves, fairies, hobgoblins". He does, however, see some possible value in visions (not dreams) that are heaven-sent, including
1316-422: The moment Greene's Groats-Worth of Wit was published, people disbelieved that Robert Greene actually wrote it, let alone wrote it from his deathbed, as is purported in the pamphlet. But the two who are then suspected of writing it, Thomas Nashe and Henry Chettle, each denied being the author. Among other reasons for considering that Nashe may be the author is Nashe's denial, which at first glance seems adamant, but
1363-449: The most popular of the Elizabethan pamphlets. It was reprinted in 1593 and 1595, and in 1594 was translated into French. It is written from the point of view of Pierce, a man who has not met with good fortune, who bitterly complains of the world’s wickedness, and addresses his complaints to the devil. At times the identity of Pierce seems to conflate with Nashe's own. But Nashe also portrays Pierce at times as an arrogant fool. The story
1410-658: The poor man's god, and idol of princes." Pierce searches for the Devil, first in Westminster, then in the Exchange, and then in St. Paul’s, where he finds a Knight of the Post, (i.e. whipping post) – a term for a professional perjurer. This man claims he can get a message to the devil. Pierce hands him what he has written, a supplication addressed to "The Prince of Darkness" from Pierce Penniless who "wisheth increase of damnation and increase of malediction eternal." The supplication
1457-757: The raucous student theatricals popular at the time. Some years later, William Covell wrote in Polimanteia that Cambridge "has been unkind to the one [i.e., Nashe] to wean him before his time." Nashe himself said he could have become a fellow had he wished (in Have With You to Saffron-Walden ). He moved to London and began his literary career. The remaining decade of his life was dominated by two concerns: finding employment and participating in controversies, most famously with Richard and Gabriel Harvey . He arrived in London with his one exercise in euphuism , The Anatomy of Absurdity . His first appearance in print
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1504-452: The sin of "sloth" contains Nashe's "defense of Playes", which finds that plays are not slothful, but virtuous. Pierce especially appreciates historical plays and gives Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 1 as an example. As Pierce says: A notable passage occurs when Nashe describes the various types of drunkards one encounters in pubs and taverns. Pierce signs this supplication: "Your devilship's bounden execrator, Pierce Penilesse". He then asks
1551-504: The summer’s fruitful treasure.” Nashe may also have contributed to Henry VI, Part 1 , the play later published under Shakespeare's name as the first part of the Henry VI trilogy. Gary Taylor believes that Nashe was the principal author of the first act. Nashe subsequently promoted the play in his pamphlet Pierce Penniless . In 1593 Nashe published Christ's Tears Over Jerusalem , a pamphlet dedicated to Lady Elizabeth Carey . Despite
1598-466: The theatre. Nashe then, in the "Private Epistle of the Author to the Printer", threatens anyone who might suggest his satire has particular victims: "Let the interpreter beware," he says, "...they shall know that I live as their evil angel to haunt them world without end." However, Nashe’s satire would have no point unless it could be seen to be striking an actual target. Nashe ends his epistle to his printer by mentioning that he would be available "... before
1645-436: The theatres were closed from 1592–1593. As Nashe says in his introductory "Private Epistle of the Author to the Printer", the first edition of Pierce Penniless was published in London, while Nashe was out of town, because "the fear of infection detained me with my Lord [his patron Lord Strange ] in the country." The plague is an underlying motive for the story itself—the seven deadly sins that Nashe's tale describes were said at
1692-572: The third impression [to] come and alter whatsoever may be offensive to any man." The story of Pierce Penniless is told by Pierce himself, who is a scholar, author and poet. He begins his story by bewailing his own lack of good fortune, saying " ... have I more wit than all these (thought I to myself)? Am I better born, am I better brought up, yea, and better favoured, and yet am I a beggar?" He sees no solution and finds that wickedness prevails. "Divines and dying men may talk of hell," he says, "but in my heart her several torments dwell." Having heard that
1739-536: The time to be the cause of the disease. Indeed, the last words that Pierce addresses to the Devil in his supplication express the wish that certain souls will be accepted into Hell, and thus will "not let our air be contaminated with their sixpenny damnation any longer". Nashe participated in the Martin Marprelate controversy , by pseudonymously responding to attacks against the Church of England launched by
1786-515: The visions of Caesar and Alexander. Correspondence can be seen between the rationalism expressed in Act 5 of Shakespeare’s play Midsummer Night’s Dream and the ideas expressed in The Terrors of the Night ; for example when Theseus in the play describes "the poet’s eye, in a fine frenzy rolling" and Nashe describes the constant "wheeling and rolling on of our braines". He is also credited with
1833-490: The work's apparently devotional nature it contained satirical material which gave offence to the London civic authorities and Nashe was briefly imprisoned in Newgate Prison . The intervention of Lady Elizabeth's husband Sir George Carey gained his release. He remained in London, apart from periodic visits to the countryside to avoid the plague—a fear reflected in the play Summer's Last Will and Testament , written in
1880-534: The world's wickedness, and addresses his complaints to the devil. At times the identity of Pierce seems to conflate with Nashe's own. But Nashe also portrays Pierce as something of an arrogant and prodigal fool. The story is told in a style that is complex, witty, fulminating, extemporaneous, digressive, anecdotal, filled with wicked descriptions, and peppered with newly minted words and Latin phrases. The satire can be mocking and bitingly sharp, and at times Nashe’s style seems to relish its own obscurity. Pierce Penniless
1927-505: Was born and baptised in Lowestoft , on the coast of Suffolk , where his father, William Nashe, or Nayshe as it is recorded, was curate. Though his mother bore seven children, only two survived childhood: Israel (born in 1565) and Thomas. The family moved to West Harling , near Thetford , in 1573 after Nashe's father was awarded the living there at the church of All Saints. Around 1581 Thomas went up to St John's College, Cambridge , as
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1974-401: Was his preface to Robert Greene 's Menaphon , which offers a brief definition of art and overview of contemporary literature. In 1590, he contributed a preface to an unlicensed edition of Philip Sidney 's Astrophil and Stella , but the edition was called in, and the authorised second edition removed Nashe's work. Nashe was alive in 1599, when his last known work, Nashes Lenten Stuffe ,
2021-415: Was printed and published as one of the many pamphlets or short quarto books that provided lively material to the reading public. Printed pamphlets had been a popular and longstanding tradition, but in London in the late 16th century, with the urban population booming, and literacy becoming widespread, they flourished. The content of these pamphlets often tended to be scandalous or scurrilous, but they contained
2068-549: Was published, and dead by 1601, when he was memorialised in a Latin verse in Affaniae by Charles Fitzgeoffrey . It is not known where he died, or where he is buried. He is featured in Thomas Dekker 's News from Hell (1606), and is referred to in the anonymous Parnassus plays (1598−1602), which provide this eulogy: Let all his faultes sleepe with his mournfull chest And there for ever with his ashes rest. His style
2115-507: Was removed from subsequent editions, may have been Nashe's. After Gabriel Harvey mocked Greene's death in Four Letters , Nashe wrote Strange News (1592). Nashe attempted to apologise in the preface to Christ's Tears Over Jerusalem (1593), but the appearance of Pierce's Supererogation shortly after offended Nashe anew. He replied with Have with You to Saffron-Walden (1596), with a possibly sardonic dedication to Richard Lichfield ,
2162-666: Was wittie, though it had some gall, Some things he might have mended, so may all. Yet this I say, that for a mother witt, Few men have ever seene the like of it. He was drawn into the Martin Marprelate controversy on the side of the bishops. As with the other writers in the controversy, his share is difficult to determine. He was formerly credited with the three " Pasquill " tracts of 1589–1590, which were included in R. B. McKerrow 's standard edition of Nashe's works: however McKerrow himself later argued strongly against their being by Nashe. The anti-Martinist An Almond for
2209-457: Was written possibly for the private circle of Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby (then known as Lord Strange). It has alternatively been suggested that "Lord S." refers to the Earl of Southampton, Shakespeare's patron, just as Nashe had inscribed The Unfortunate Traveler , to "Lord Henry Wriothesley Earl of Southampton". The Choise of Valentines circulated only in manuscript. It describes
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