|
Sir
Thomas More (1478
- 1535)
|
|
 The
Complete Works of St. Thomas More (Yale Edition of the Complete Works of
St. Thomas More, Vol 1) by Thomas
More, Katherine Gardiner Rodgers (Editor), Clarence H. Miller
(Editor), Anthony S. Edwards (Editor)
The English poems (c. 1492-1494) are lively and
experimental works, written at a time when English poetry was in its
doldrums. This collection includes verses for a series of painted
hangings in More`s father`s house, a lament for Queen Elizabeth, wife of
Henry VII, traditional and sober Fortune verses.
 Click
here for more information on this book
 The
Last Letters of Thomas More by Thomas More, Alvaro
De Silva (Editor)
Written from the Tower of
London, these letters of Thomas More still speak powerfully today.
In the spring of 1534, Thomas More was taken to the
Tower of London, and after fourteen months in prison, the brilliant
author of UTOPIA, friend of Erasmus and the humanities, and former Lord
Chancellor of England was beheaded on Tower Hill. Yet More wrote some of
his best works as a prisoner, including a set of historically and
religiously important letters.
The Last Letters of Thomas More is a superb new
edition of More's prison correspondence, introduced and fully annotated
for contemporary readers by Alvaro de Silva. Based on the critical
edition of More's correspondence, this volume begins with letters penned
by More to Cromwell and Henry VIII in February 1534 and ends with More's
last words to his daughter, Margaret Roper, on the eve of his execution.
More writes on a host of topics--prayer and penance, the right use of
riches and power, the joys of heaven, psychological depression and
suicidal temptations, the moral compromises of those who imprisoned him,
and much more.
Valuable to a range of readers, this volume records
the clarity of More's conscience and his readiness to die for the
integrity of his religious faith. It also throws light on the literary
works that More wrote during the same period and on the religious and
political conditions of Tudor England. Gripping reading awaits those who
delve into these pages.
Click
here for more information on this book
Click
here for books by and about Thomas More
Click
here for Modern Philosophy Books
|
|
E-text. This is the complete text of Utopia by
Thomas More.
|
|
Excerpt:
Thomas More was born in Milk Street, London on
February 7, 1478, son Sir John More, a prominent judge. He
was educated at St Anthony's School in London. As a youth he
served as a page in the household of Archbishop Morton, who predicted he would be a "marvellous man." More went on to study at
Oxford...
|
|
Excerpt:
More
is best known for Utopia (1516), a satirical account of life on
the fictitious island of Utopia. On this island the interests of the
individual are subordinate to those of society at large, all people must
do some work, universal education and religious toleration are
practiced, and all land is owned in common. These conditions are
contrasted with those of English society, to the substantial
disadvantage of the latter. Utopia was the forerunner of a series
of similar books. Among the best-known of these are Candide by
the French author and philosopher Voltaire, Erewhon by the
English novelist Samuel Butler, and A Dream of John Ball by the
English poet and artist William Morris...
|
|
Excerpt:
More is an excellent example of the early English
Renaissance. He was friends with such humanists as Erasmus, John Colet,
Thomas Linacre and others. Renaisance thinkers were mainly concerned
with four ancient schools -- Aristotelianism, Platonism, Stoicism and
Epicureanism. The alliance between Platonism and Christianity was as old
as Saint Augustine, but had been revived in the Renaissance by Marsilio
Ficino. Aristotle had been Christianized by St Thoma Aquinas.
Christianity and Stoicism had many close connections from early on.
Epicureanism was being Christianized by Lorenzo Valla and Erasmus. This
process was to be continued by Pierre
Gassendi.
|
|
Thomas More wrote the following letter to his daughter
Margaret with a charcoal stick. It was written from prison on July 5,
1535, the day before he was executed.
|
|
Jason Hans Kleine
Excerpt:
Socialist ideals have recurred throughout the history
of literature; from Plato to Marx the elusive goal of a perfect state
has occupied some of the best minds in political thought manifesting
itself in literature. In the midst of this historic tradition is the
Utopia of More, a work which links the utopias of the ancient with the
utopias of the modern. Hythloday's fantasy island draws heavily on the
Greek Republic and yet it influenced the revolutionary world of Marx.
What values do the Utopians hold which are in common with other
socialist utopian values, and which ideals of theirs are unique?
|
|
Dave Armstrong, ed.
Excerpt:
The most famous English martyr in the
16th century was St. Thomas More, the universally admired humanist,
lawyer, Lord Chancellor, and scholar probably second only to Erasmus; he
had written the famous Utopia. This remarkable man was
immortalized in our own time by the movie A Man For All Seasons
(1966). It is well worthwhile to stop and take a look at this great
hero, filled with the highest integrity...
|
 |
|
