Christopher Marlowe’s only original Latin poem, the lament
On the Death of Sir Roger Manwood,
has suffered much critical neglect, but remains a significant component of the Marlowe canon. The twelve-line verse of Latin hexameters poses many challenges to interpretation. It was written as an epitaph for the Kentish nobleman Sir Roger Manwood (1525-1592), but does not appear on his “marble sepulchre” in St. Stephen’s churchyard. The poem was discovered by J.P. Collier in the nineteenth-century, in a common-place book (now Folger MS. 750.1) which was owned by another Kentish gentleman, Henry Oxinden. Manwood’s relationship to Marlowe is unknown, the circumstances in which the poem was produced are also undetermined, we do not know whether the piece was a commission or not, and…
934 words
Citation: O'Halloran, Meadhbh . "On The Death of Sir Roger Manwood". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 April 2014 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35236, accessed 21 November 2024.]
