2.1: Front Matter - images, poems

Last updated
Save as PDF

Page ID: 57759

\( \newcommand{\vecs}[1]{\overset { \scriptstyle \rightharpoonup} {\mathbf{#1}} } \) \( \newcommand{\vecd}[1]{\overset{-\!-\!\rightharpoonup}{\vphantom{a}\smash {#1}}} \)\(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \(\newcommand{\id}{\mathrm{id}}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\) \( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\range}{\mathrm{range}\,}\) \( \newcommand{\RealPart}{\mathrm{Re}}\) \( \newcommand{\ImaginaryPart}{\mathrm{Im}}\) \( \newcommand{\Argument}{\mathrm{Arg}}\) \( \newcommand{\norm}[1]{\| #1 \|}\) \( \newcommand{\inner}[2]{\langle #1, #2 \rangle}\) \( \newcommand{\Span}{\mathrm{span}}\)\(\newcommand{\AA}{\unicode[.8,0]{x212B}}\)

Map of Utopia

Utopian Map 1516 ed.jpg

1516 edition

Utopia_Woodcut_(Holbein,_1518) crop.jpg

1518 edition, Ambrosius Hoblein (Hans Holbein's brother)

Utopian Alphabet

Translation of the four verse lines included in the "Utopian Alphabet" (first in Latin, then in English):

My king and conquerer Utopos by name,

A prince of much renown and immortal fame,

Has made an isle that once no island was,

Full fraught with worldly wealth, with pleasure and solace.

I one of all other without philosophy,

Have shaped for many a philosophical city.

And mind I have nothing dangerous to impart,

So better to receive I am ready with all my heart.

Various Poems

Note: The following verses were included in the first four editions/printings of the text (Stephen Duncombe, "The Open Utopia").

"A Short Meter of Utopia Written by Anemolius, Poet Laureate and Nephew to Hythloday by his Sister"

Me, Utopia, called in Antiquity,

void of haunt and harbor.

Now I am like to Plato's city,

Whose fame flies the world through.

Yea like, or rather more likely,

Plato's plot to excel and pass.

For what Plato's pen has plotted briefly,

In naked words, as in glass,

The same have I performed fully,

With laws, with men, and treasure fitly.

Wherefore not Utopia, but rather rightly,

My name is Eutopie: a place of felicity.

"Of Utopia" by Gerard Gedlenhouwer [Dutch professor]

Doth pleasure please? Then place thee here, and well thee rest,

Most pleasant pleasures thou shall find here.

Does profit ease? Then here arrive, this isle is best.

For passing profits do hear appear.

Doth both thee tempt, and would thou grip both pain and pleasure?

This isle is fraught with both bounteously.

To still thy greedy intent, reap here incomparable treasure,

Both mind and tongue to garnish richly.

The hid wells and foundations both of vice and virtue,

Thou has them here subject unto thine eye.

Be thankful now, and thanks where thanks be due,

Give to Thomas More London's immortal glory.

"To the Reader" by Cornelius Graphey [poet, friend of Erasmus & Giles]

Will thou know what wonders strange be in the land that late was found?

Will thou learn thy life to lead, by divers ways that godly be?

Will thou of virtue and vice understand the very ground?

Will thou see this wretched world, how full it is of vanity?

Then read, and mark, and bear in mind, for thy behalf, as thou may best.

All things that in this present work, that worth clerk Sir Thomas More,

With wit divine fully learned, unto the world has plain expressed,

In whom London well glory may, for wisdom and for godly love.