Ben Jonson and His Poetry

1. Ben Jonson and HisPoetry

2. Ben Jonson Biography He was born in Westminster, London in 1572, the posthumous son of a clergyman. His father died a month before Ben’s birth, and his mother remarried two years later, to a master bricklayer. Jonson attended school in St. Martin’s Lane and was later sent to Westminster School. About 1589, probably because of his poverty, instead of pursuing a university education he left Westminster to follow his stepfather’s trade of bricklaying. Ben Jonson married some time before 1592. The registers of St. Martin’s Church state that his eldest daughter Mary died in November 1593, when she was only six months old. His eldest son Benjamin died of the plague ten years later, and a second Benjamin died in 1635.

3. By September of 1597, Jonson had a fixed engagement in the Lord Admiral’s acting company, then performing under Philip Henslowe’s management at The Rose. In 1597 he was imprisoned for his collaboration with Thomas Nashe in writing the play Isle of Dogs. In 1598 , Jonson produced his first great success, Every Man in his humor. On September 22, 1598, Jonson killed his fellow-actor, Gabriel Spencer, in a duel. When brought to trial, he confessed and claimed right of clergy; his property was confiscated, and his thumb branded. On January 6, 1605, he began his great career of masque- writing with the production of The Masque of Blackness at Whitehall, and during the reign of James he finished twenty of the thirty-seven masques presented at court. Early in 1606 he composed Volpone.

4. 1. Jonson’s poetry

5. Drink today, and drown all sorrow;You shall perhaps not do it tomorrow;Best, while you have it, use your breath;There is no drinking after death.’’ Thought you might like this quote…

6. On my First SonBY BEN JONSON Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy; My sin was too much hope of thee, lov'd boy. Seven years tho' wert lent to me, and I thee pay, Exacted by thy fate, on the just day. O, could I lose all father now! For why Will man lament the state he should envy? To have so soon 'scap'd world's and flesh's rage, And if no other misery, yet age? Rest in soft peace, and, ask'd, say, "Here doth lie Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry." For whose sake henceforth all his vows be such, As what he loves may never like too much.

7. Questions • Do you think the speaker is wise in not wanting to love anything so strongly again? • How would you explain the ‘sin’ Jonson attributes to himself in line 2? • Why does Jonson say that an early death is enviable?

8. Song: to Celia [“Drink to me only with thine eyes”]BY BEN JONSON Drink to me only with thine eyes,          And I will pledge with mine; Or leave a kiss but in the cup,          And I’ll not look for wine. The thirst that from the soul doth rise          Doth ask a drink divine; But might I of Jove’s nectar sup,          I would not change for thine. • I sent thee late a rosy wreath, •          Not so much honouring thee • As giving it a hope, that there •          It could not withered be. • But thou thereon didst only breathe, •          And sent’st it back to me; • Since when it grows, and smells, I swear, •          Not of itself, but thee.

9. Questions • How might you respond differently to this poem if it were sun g rather than read silently? • In lines 5 -8, what does the speaker say the soul requires, and what substitutes does it desire?

10. Answer the questions to both these poems by Ben Jonson and upload them as homework.