Ben Jonson
1572–1637 · England
“Drink to me only with thine eyes, / And I will pledge with mine.”
The lineage through Ben Jonson
Drew From(1)
who shaped Ben Jonson
- Jonson built his whole self-image on Horace — translator of the Ars Poetica, the self-styled English 'second Horace'
- His odes, epistles, and epigrams are densely woven with Horace; a poem like 'Inviting a Friend to Supper' carries Horatian lines right inside it
- Read the Odes first and Jonson's classical poise stops looking like a pose — you're hearing the model he chose to live up to
Inspired(1)
who Ben Jonson shaped
- Jonson founded the "Tribe of Ben" — the disciples who took his classical discipline as a model — and Marvell was among the inheritors
- "To Penshurst," the poem that invented the English country-house genre, is the direct template for Marvell's "Upon Appleton House"
- Marvell carried over Jonson's logic, order, and classical restraint and built his own estate poem on that frame
Portraits
Half-length portrait of Jonson in a black doublet against a dark ground, head turned slightly to the viewer's left, balding with a trim moustache and beard.
Abraham van Blyenberch, 1617
Anonymous engraved portrait held by the Rijksmuseum — an oval-framed print of Jonson of the kind bound into early editions of his Works.
Cropped bust portion of Vertue's oval engraving — just the head and shoulders, laurel and inscriptions trimmed away.
George Vertue (after Gerard van Honthorst), 1730
Wall monument in Poets' Corner: a portrait medallion of Jonson above three linked theatrical masks and a broken-flame lamp, set in a pale marble surround.
James Gibbs and John Michael Rysbrack, 1723
Famous Quotes
“He was not of an age, but for all time!”
“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.”
“Sweet Swan of Avon!”
“Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy; / My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.”
About Ben Jonson
English playwright, poet, and literary critic, the dominant dramatist of the Jacobean era alongside Shakespeare. His comedies Volpone and The Alchemist are masterpieces of satirical wit. He was the first English poet laureate in all but name, and his circle of admirers — the 'Tribe of Ben' — shaped English poetry for decades.