Thomas Drant

Thomas Drant (c.1540–1578) was an English clergyman and poet. Work of his on prosody was known to Sir Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser.[1] He was in the intellectual court circle known as the 'Areopagus', and including, as well as Sidney, Edward Dyer, Gabriel Harvey, and Daniel Rogers.[2] He translated Horace into English, taking a free line in consideration of the Roman poet's secular status; but he mentioned he found Horace harder than Homer.[3] Drant's translation was the first complete one of the Satires in English, in fourteeners, but makes some radical changes of content.[4]

  1. ^ Katherine Duncan-Jones, Sir Philip Sidney: Courtier Poet (1991), p. 191.
  2. ^ "The Edmund Spenser Home Page: Biography". Archived from the original on 2 January 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2011.
  3. ^ Lori Chamberlain, Gender and the Metaphorics of Translation, p. 310, in Lawrence Venuti (editor), The Translation Studies Reader (2004).
  4. ^ Peter France, The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation (2000), p. 523.