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Ben Jonson

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

This chapter considers the making of Ben Jonson’s poetry, and the meanings that it creates for communities of readers. Beginning with Jonson’s statement to the Scottish poet, William Drummond of Hawthorden, ‘That he wrote all his first in prose’, this chapter considers the influence of Jonson’s education on his writing and sees in the ideal blend of instruction and pleasure that he found at Westminster School with William Camden a model for the societies imagined and created in his poetry. Reading examples from the three major collections of Jonson’s poetry—his Epigrams (1612), The Forest (1616), and The Underwood (posthumous, 1640)—the chapter ends with a consideration of Jonson’s influence on later generations of poets, and on their conception of poetry and poetic history.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationThe Oxford History of Poetry in English
Subtitle of host publicationVolume 5. Seventeenth-Century British Poetry
EditorsLaura L. Knoppers
PublisherOxford University Press
Chapter26
Pages353-366
Number of pages14
ISBN (Print)9780198852803
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 8 Aug 2024

Publication series

NameOxford History of Poetry in English
PublisherOxford University Press
Volume5

Keywords

  • Ben Jonson
  • poetic form
  • poetic technique
  • prose education
  • Epigrams
  • The Forest
  • The Underwood
  • poetic influence

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