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Barnabe Googe

(11 June 1540-7 February 1594) was an English poet.

List of Poems

Of Money
To Doctor Bale
To Alexander Neville
Out of Sight
Coming Homeward out of Spain
An Epitaph on the Death of Nicholas Grimald
Alexander Neuyll
At Bonneval
The Preface of L. Blundeston
To L. Blundeston
Once Musing As I Sat

Major Works

Googe's major work, Eclogues, Epitaphs, and Sonnets, includes many obviously youthful imitations of poems found in Richard Tottel's 1557 Miscellany. Eclogues, Epitaphs, and Sonnets is nevertheless distinguished by its inclusion of eight connected eclogues that reject the genre's glorification of sensual love while at the same time employing the pastoral style of this poetic form. The volume's final poem, an allegorical dream sequence entitled “Cupido Conquered” also seeks to show that romantic and sensual passions should be overcome. While Eclogues, Epitaphs, and Sonnets is regarded as Googe's most enduring literary achievement, during his lifetime he was known primarily for his translations. In 1560, Googe published a translation of the first three books of Palingenius's Zodiacus vitae, a philosophical poem about nature, the human condition, and the path to spiritual salvation. By 1565, Googe had completed his translation of all twelve books of The Zodiake of Life, which soon became a standard school text. In 1569, Googe published The Ship of Safeguard, an allegorical poem that Googe translated liberally from two Christian legends. Following Queen Elizabeth's excommunication from the Catholic Church in 1570, Googe published The Popish Kingdom; or, Reign of Antichrist, a translation of Thomas Kirchmeyer's anti-Catholic diatribe. In 1577, Googe produced one of his most celebrated translations, Four Books of Husbandry, based on Conrad Heresbach's work on agricultural practices. In addition to translating this volume, Googe also augmented it by introducing numerous prose digressions on food and farming. Over the next decade, Googe translated several more works, including a volume of Latin poetry, a collection of Spanish proverbs, and a work about medicinal herbs.