George Chapman, (born 1559, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, Eng.—died May 12, 1634, London), English poet and dramatist, whose translation of Homer long remained the standard English version. - George Chapman translated Homer’s 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey' into English. - The first books of his translation of the 'Iliad' appeared in 1598. It was completed in 1611, and his version of the Odyssey appeared in 1616. Chapman’s Homer contains passages of great power and beauty and inspired the sonnet of John Keats “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer” (1815).