Ben Jonson

Ben Jonson

Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – 6 August 1637) was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems. A man of vast reading and a seemingly insatiable appetite for controversy, Jonson had an unparalleled breadth of influence on Jacobean and Caroline playwrights and poets.

Read more about Ben Jonson:  Relationship With Shakespeare, Reception and Influence, Biographies of Ben Jonson

Famous quotes by ben jonson:

    Thou art a monument without a tomb,
    And art alive still while thy book doth live
    And we have wits to read and praise to give.
    Ben Jonson (1572–1637)

    And have sought, to give new birth,
    In baths to steep him;
    But, being so much too good for earth,
    Heaven vows to keep him.
    Ben Jonson (1572–1637)

    The faery beam upon you,
    The stars to glisten on you,
    A moon of light
    In the noon of night
    Till the firedrake hath o’er gone you.
    Ben Jonson (1572–1637)

    Now, Penshurst, they that will proportion thee
    With other edifices, when they see
    Those proud, ambitious heaps, and nothing else,
    May say, their lords have built, but thy lord dwells.
    Ben Jonson (1572–1637)