Thomas Nashe, Piers Penniless his Supplication to the Devil

Peter Brynmor Roberts (Cardiff University)

Ed. by William M. Hamlin, Washington State University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.03: English Writing and Culture: Renaissance (Elizabethan and Jacobean periods) , 1485-1625.
Vol. editors: William M. Hamlin (Washington State University), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University), Ema Vyroubalova (Trinity College Dublin)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1592

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Pamphlets/ Tracts/ Chapbooks
Satire

Resources

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Nashe described

Pierce Penilesse

as “most saleable”, boasting in 1596 that it had gone through six editions “at the least” (3: 35). It appears that Nashe was, characteristically, exaggerating, since only five early editions are extant (Nashe 1: 140), but the remark testifies both to his pride in being a professional author and to the text’s popularity.

Summary

Pierce, the evidently educated narrator, complains, in prose and verse, of his poverty and misery, before bemoaning the neglect of learning in general. Then, hearing of “a certaine blind Retayler called the Divell”, who “would lette one for a neede have a thousand poundes uppon a Statute Merchant of his soule” (Nashe 1: 161), he decides to do business. Seeking the Devil among the lawyers in Westminster Hall

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2889 words

Citation: Roberts, Peter Brynmor. "Piers Penniless his Supplication to the Devil". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 July 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2807, accessed 23 April 2024.]

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