The Poems of Ben Jonson

Tom Cain, Ruth Connolly, Tom Cain, Ruth Connolly

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN:
  9781138904712
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317445210
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

Ben Jonson, who was with Shakespeare and Marlowe one of three principal playwrights of his age, was also one of its most original and influential poets. Known best for the country house poem 'To Penshurst' and his moving elegy 'On my First Son', his work inspired the whole generation of seventeenth-century poets who declared themselves the 'Sons of Ben'. This edition brings his three major verse publications, Epigrams (1616), The Forest (1616), and Underwood (1641) together with his large body of uncollected poems to create the largest collection of Jonson's verse that has been published. It thus gives readers a comprehensive view of the wide range of his achievement, from satirical epigrams through graceful lyrics to tender epitaphs. Though he is often seen as the preeminent English poet of the plain style, Jonson employed a wealth of topical and classical allusion and a compressed syntax which mean his poetry can require as much annotation for the modern reader as that of his friend John Donne. This edition not only provides comprehensive explanation and contextualization aimed at student and non-specialist readers alike, but presents the poems in a modern spelling and punctuation that brings Jonson's poetry to life.

1
To the Reader

Pray thee take care, that tak’st my book in hand,

 To read it well: that is, to understand.

Ep. 1. 1-2 book … understand] cf. §37.1-2. The concept of understanding was important to J., often, as here, signifying moral and intellectual virtue and generosity as well as simple comprehension (for J.’s demands of his readers, cf. Evans, ‘Jonson’s EPIGRAMMES I-III’, Explicator, 45 (1987), 7–10). H&S compare Alch. ‘To the Reader’, 1: ‘If thou be’st more [than a reader] thou art an understander, and then I trust thee.’ Cf. also Harington, The Most Elegant and Witty Epigrams (1618), sig. A2a, ‘The Epistle to all Readers, that Epigrams must be read attentively’: ‘I had liefe you did sit downe and whistle, | As reading, not to reede.’ For the significance of being able to take the apparently small book in hand, see Headnote to Epigrams.

2
To my Book

It will be looked for, book, when some but see

 Thy title, Epigrams, and named of me,

Thou shouldst be bold, licentious, full of gall,

 Wormwood, and sulphur; sharp, and toothed withal;

5 Become a petulant thing, hurl ink and wit

 As madmen stones, not caring whom they hit.

Deceive their malice who could wish it so,

 And by thy wiser temper let men know

Thou art not covetous of least self-fame

10 Made from the hazard of another’s shame,

Much less with lewd, profane, and beastly phrase,

 To catch the world’s loose laughter or vain gaze.

He that departs with his own honesty

 For vulgar praise doth it too dearly buy.

Ep. 2. 2 Epigrams] For the suggestion that this alludes to Epigrams (O), and the 1599 ban on epigrams, see Epigrams, Headnote. For the challenging nature of the title, see Dedication, 7 and n. named of me] bearing my name. J. had acquired a reputation for wounding satire since the ‘comical satires’ of 1599–1601, especially Poet., where he defended himself against the charge of attacking ‘The law and lawyers, captains, and the players | By their particular names’ (Apol. Dialogue, 69-70).

3 licentious] disregarding commonly accepted rules (OED, 1); used thus by J.’s Cato of ‘licentious Catiline’ (Cat., 3.1.208).

3-4 gall … sulphur] cf. §18.33; gall, used figuratively, is something which causes irritation or distress (OED, Gall n.²); wormwood is a plant described by Gerard as ‘very bitter’ (Herbal, 1633, p. 1095); sulphur (Biblical ‘brimstone’) has a sharp, acrid or rotten smell in many compounds. J. may be recalling Thomas Bastard, Chrestoleros (1598), Book 2, Ep. 16: ‘Reader, there is no biting in my verse; | No gall, no wormwood, no cause of offence.’ In the Proem to Book 8, Martial writes, ‘although epigrams appearing to aim at the verbal licence of mime have been written even by men of the strictest morals and the highest station, I have not allowed these here to talk as wantonly as is their custom’; but in the Proem to Book 1, he defends the ‘lascivam veritatem’ of his language, and in 7.25.1-3 criticizes a writer who never writes ‘epigrams that are not bland and whiter than a white-leaded skin, without a grain of salt in them, not a drop of bitter gall.’

5 petulant] insolent, impudent, OED, 1b, cites J. as its first user thus in 1598 in EMI (Q), 1.1, but in fact it occurs only in the revised F1 version. He does, however, use it thus in 1601 (still the earliest use) in Poet., Apol. Dialogue, 84. Cf. Discoveries, 196.

5-6 hurl … hit] Briggs, 1916, 170 notes an epigram attributed to Seneca ‘On one who jests maliciously’, lines 5-6: ‘Just as a crazy man [furens] hurls rocks down through whole cities at its people, so you throw malignant words’ (Anthologia Latina, ed. Riese, 1868, 1. 267).

7 Cf. Martial, Proem to Book 1, 9-10: ‘I want no interpreter’s malice (malignus interpres), and beg that nobody write addresses on my epigrams (epigrammata mea inscribat)’. Deceive] Frustrate, prove false (OED, †3b).

9 self-fame] personal fame; OED, Self- prefix 5d, citing this example.

9-10 Cf. Martial, Proem to Book 1, 7-8: ‘I would not have fame at such a price; ingenuity is the last quality for which I seek approval’; 7.12.3-4: ‘my page has never harmed even those it justly hates, nor do I desire celebrity from anybody’s blush.’

10 from … of] by gambling with.

11-12 Cf. Horace, Sat., 1.83-5: ‘the man who courts the loud laughter of others, and the reputation of a wit; who can invent what he never saw; who cannot keep a secret–that man is black of heart.’ See Discoveries, 1866-8, for laughter in comedy as ‘a kind of turpitude, that depraves some part of a man’s nature.’

13-14 Cf. Martial, Proem to Book 1, 7-8 (quoted above, lines 9-10n.).

13 departs] parts; cf. EMO, 4.4.55: ‘Faith, sir, I can hardly depart with money.’

14 vulgar] popular, unrefined.

3
To my Bookseller

Thou that mak’st gain thy end, and wisely well

Call’st a book good or bad as it doth sell,

Use mine so too: I give thee leave. But crave

For the luck’s sake it thus much favour have:

5 To lie upon thy stall till it be sought,

Not offered as it made suit to be bought;

Nor have my title-leaf on posts or walls,

Or in cleft sticks, advancèd to make calls

For termers, or some clerk-like serving man,

10 Who scarce can spell th’hard names; whose knight less can.

If, without these vile arts it will not sell,

Send it to Bucklersbury: there ’twill, well.

Ep. 3. For the evidence that John Stepneth was the stationer who entered ‘Ben Johnson his Epigrams’ in SR in 1612 and published them the same year, see Epigrams, Headnote. Martial also mentions his booksellers and their shops several times (e.g. 1.2); insofar as it is concerned with the fate of his book, the poem parallels Martial 1.3.

2 Cf. Martial, 14.194: ‘There are some who say I am no poet; but the bookseller who vends me thinks I am.’

5-9 Henry Parrot may be echoing these lines from Epigrams (O) in Laquei Ridiculosi (1613), Epigram 144: ‘My Epigrams escap’d the Printers hand, | Eyther on Stationers stal’s regardles lye, | Or must on Posts, for pennance, nayled stand, | That every one may gaze on, passing by’; see also Eps. 12.24n., 71 Title n., 101.36n. Cf. also Martial, Proem to Book 2: ‘Epigrams need no crier, they are content with their own tongue.’

7 title-leaf … walls] the title pages of some books were ‘nailed’ (see previous note) or pasted up outside stationers’ shops. Cf. Nashe, Terrors of the Night (1594), sig. A4a: ‘To Master or Goodman Reader’: ‘a number of you there be, who … piteously torment Title Pages on every post: never reading farther of any Book, than “Imprinted by Simeon such a sign”‘; Rich, Faults Faults, and Nothing Else but Faults (1606), p. 39: ‘I have many times been deceived with these flourishing Titles that I have seen pasted upon a Post.’ See also Martial, 1.117.10-13: ‘Opposite Caesar’s Forum there’s a shop with its doorposts completely covered by advertisements, so that you can read the entire list of poets at a glance. Look for me there.’ Horace, Art, 555 refers to the ‘pillars’ used by Roman booksellers to advertise their wares.

8-9 H&S cite Campion, Observations in the Art of English Poetry (1602), ‘The Writer to his Booke’: ‘Whether thus hasts my little book so fast? | To Paul’s Churchyard. What, in those cells to stand, | With one leaf like a riders cloak put up | To catch a termer?’ J.’s appears to be the only reference to title pages being placed in a cleft stick, presumably outside the shop, to advertise a book.

9 termers] derogatory epithet for those who frequent London during the legal terms. clerk-like] because he is modestly literate; for a more complimentary use, see WT, 1.2.392.

10 whose … can] his master (perhaps only figuratively a ‘knight’) is less literate....

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Note by the general editors
• Introduction
• Acknowledgements
• List of illustrations
• Chronological table of Jonson’s life
• List of abbreviations
• The poemsPOEMS 1597–1616
• Epigrams
• 1 To the Reader
• 2 To my Book
• 3 To my Bookseller
• 4 To King James
• 5 On the Union
• 6 To Alchemists
• 7 On the new Hot-House
• 8 On a Robbery
• 9 To all to whom I write
• 10 To my Lord Ignorant
• 11 On Something that walks Somewhere
• 12 On Lieutenant Shift
• 13 To Doctor Empiric
• 14 To William Camden
• 15 On Court-Worm
• 16 To Brain-Hardy
• 17 To the Learned Critic
• 18 To my mere English Censurer
• 19 On Sir Cod the Perfumed
• 20 To the same Sir Cod
• 21 On Reformed Gamester
• 22 On my first Daughter
• 23 To John Donne
• 24 To the Parliament
• 25 On Sir Voluptuous Beast
• 26 On the same Beast
• 27 On Sir John Roe
• 28 On Don Surly
• 29 To Sir Annual Tilter
• 30 To Person Guilty
• 31 On Bank the Usurer
• 32 On Sir John Roe
• 33 To the same
• 34 Of Death
• 35 To King James
• 36 To the Ghost of Martial
• 37 On Cheverel the Lawyer
• 38 To Person Guilty
• 39 On Old Colt
• 40 On Margaret Ratcliffe
• 41 On Gypsy
• 42 On Giles and Joan
• 43 To Robert, Earl of Salisbury
• 44 On Chuff, Banks the usurer’s kinsman
• 45 On my first Son
• 46 To Sir Luckless Woo-All
• 47 To the same
• 48 On Mongrel Esquire
• 49 To Playwright
• 50 To Sir Cod
• 51 To King James, upon the happy false rumour of his death, the two and twentieth day of March, 1607
• 52 To Censorious Courtling
• 53 To Old-End Gatherer
• 54 On Cheverel
• 55 To Francis Beaumont
• 56 On Poet-Ape
• 57 On bawds and usurers
• 58 To Groom Idiot
• 59 On Spies
• 60 To William, Lord Monteagle
• 61 To Fool, or Knave
• 62 To Fine Lady Would-Be
• 63 To Robert, Earl of Salisbury
• 64 To the same, upon the accession of the Treasurership to him
• 65 To my Muse
• 66 To Sir Henry Cary
• 67 To Thomas, Earl of Suffolk
• 68 On Playwright
• 69 To Pertinax Cob
• 70 To William Roe
• 71 On Court-Parrot
• 72 To Courtling
• 73 To Fine Grand
• 74 To Thomas, Lord Chancellor Egerton
• 75 On Lip the Teacher
• 76 On Lucy, Countess of Bedford
• 77 To one that desired me not to name him
• 78 To Hornet
• 79 To Elizabeth, Countess of Rutland
• 80 Of Life and Death
• 81 To Prowl the Plagiary
• 82 On Cashiered Captain Surly
• 83 To a Friend
• 84 To Lucy, Countess of Bedford
• 85 To Sir Henry Goodyere
• 86 To the same
• 87 On Captain Hazard the Cheater
• 88 On English Monsieur
• 89 To Edward Alleyn
• 90 On Mill, my Lady’s Woman
• 91 To Sir Horace Vere
• 92 The New Cry
• 93 To Sir John Radcliffe
• 94 To Lucy, Countess of Bedford, with Master Donne’s Satires
• 95 To Sir Henry Savile
• 96 To John Donne
• 97 On the New Motion
• 98 To Sir Thomas Roe
• 99 To the same
• 100 On Playwright
• 101 Inviting a friend to supper
• 102 To William, Earl of Pembroke
• 103 To Mary, Lady Wroth
• 104 To Susan, Countess of Montgomery
• 105 To Mary, Lady Wroth
• 106 To Sir Edward Herbert
• 107 To Captain Hungry
• 108 To True Soldiers
• 109 To Sir Henry Neville
• 110 To Clement Edmondes, on his Caesar’s Commentaries observed and translated
• 111 To the same, on the same
• 112 To a weak Gamester in Poetry
• 113 To Sir Thomas Overbury
• 114 To Mistress Philip Sidney
• 115 On the Town’s Honest Man
• 116 To Sir William Jephson
• 117 On Groin
• 118 On Gut
• 119 To Sir Rafe Shelton
• 120 Epitaph on S. P. a child of Q. Elizabeth’s Chapel
• 121 To Benjamin Rudyerd
• 122 To the same
• 123 To the same
• 124 Epitaph on Elizabeth, L.H.
• 125 To Sir William Uvedale
• 126 To his lady, then Mistress Carey
• 127 To Esmé, Lord Aubigny
• 128 To William Roe
• 129 To Mime
• 130 To Alfonso Ferrabosco, on his book
• 131 To the same
• 132 To Master Joshua Sylvester
• 133 On the Famous Voyage
• THE FOREST
• POEMS 1616–1636
• 51.1 To Master Ben Jonson in his Journey by Master Craven
• 53 Charles Cavendish to his Posterity
• 54 Leges Convivales
• 55 Verses over the door at the entrance into the Apollo
• 56 From Pan’s Anniversary, or the Shepherd’s Holy-day
• 57 From A Masque of the Metamorphosed Gypsies
• 58 From The Masque of Augurs
• 59 From James Mabbe, The Rogue. On the Author, Work, and Translator
• 60 From Mr William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. To the reader
• 61 From Mr William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. To the memory of my belovèd, the author Master William Shakespeare and what he hath left us
• 62 From Neptune’s Triumph for the return of Albion
• 63 To the memory of that most honoured lady Jane, eldest daughter to Cuthbert, Lord Ogle, and Countess of Shrewsbury
• 64 From The Staple of News
• 65 To my chosen friend the learned translator of Lucan
• 66 From The Battle of Agincourt. The Vision of Ben Jonson on the Muses of his friend Michael Drayton.
• 67 [Song. Death and Love Paralleled]
• 68 From The New Inn
• 69 The just indignation the author took at the vulgar censure of his Play by some malicious spectators begat this following Ode to Himself
• 70 Epitaph on Katherine, Lady Ogle: ῾Ο Ζεὺς κατέιδε Ξρόνιος ἔις τὰς δὶφϑεράς
• 71 From Sir John Beaumont, Bosworth Field. On the honoured poems of his honoured friend, Sir John Beaumont, Baronet.
• 72 From Edward Filmer, French Court Airs
• 73 From Love’s Triumph through Callipolis
• 74 From Chloridia. Rites to Chloris and her Nymphs
• 75 An Expostulation with Inigo Jones
• 76 To Inigo, Marquis Would-Be: a corollary
• 77 To a friend: an epigram of him
• 78 78.1 Epigram. To my kind friend Ben Johnson & 78.2 To my detractor
• 79 From The Northern Lass. To … the author of this work, Master Richard Brome.
• 80.1 Mr Gil to Mr Ben: Johnson upon the occasion of his Magnetic Lady
• 81 [A song of welcome to King Charles]
• 82 [A Song of the Moon]
• 83 From The King’s Entertainment at Welbeck
• 84 From Alice Sutcliffe, Meditations of Man’s Mortality
• 85 From Joseph Rutter, The Shepherd’s Holiday
• 86 From Annalia Dubrensia. An Epigram to my jovial good friend Master Robert Dover.
• THE UNDERWOOD
• 2.1 His Excuse for Loving
• 2.4 Her Triumph
• 3 The Musical Strife, in a Pastoral Dialogue
• 4 A Song
• 5 In the person of womankind: a song apologetic
• 6 Another: in defence of their inconstancy: a song
• 7 A Nymph’s Passion
• 8 The Hourglass
• 9 My picture left in Scotland
• 10 Against Jealousy
• 11 The Dream
• 12 An Epitaph on Master Vincent Corbett
• 13 An Epistle to Sir Edward Sackville, now Earl of Dorset
• 14 An Epistle to Master John Selden
• 15 An Epistle to a Friend, to persuade him to the wars
• 16 An Epitaph on Master Philip Gray
• 17 Epistle to a Friend
• 18 An Elegy
• 19 An Elegy
• 20 A Satirical Shrub
• 21 A Little Shrub growing by
• 22 An Elegy
• 23 An Ode. To Himself
• 24 The Mind of the frontispiece to a book
• 25 An Ode to James, Earl of Desmond, writ in Queen Elizabeth’s time, since lost, and recovered
• 26 An Ode (‘High-spirited friend’)
• 27 An Ode
• 28 A Sonnet: to the noble lady, the Lady Mary Worth
• 29 A fit of rhyme against rhyme
• 30 An Epigram on William, Lord Burghley, Lord High Treasurer of England: Presented upon a plate of gold to his son Robert, Earl of Salisbury, when he was also Treasurer
• 31 An Epigram: to Thomas, Lord Ellesmere, the last term he sat Chancellor1
• 32 Another to him2
• 33 An Epigram to the Counsellor that pleaded and carried the cause
• 34 An Epigram. To the smallpox
• 35 An Epitaph. On Elizabeth Chute
• 36 A Song
• 37 An Epistle to a Friend
• 38 An Elegy
• 40 An Elegy
• 41 An Elegy
• 42 An Elegy
• 43 An Execration upon Vulcan
• 44 A speech according to Horace
• 45 An Epistle to Master Arthur Squibb
• 46 An Epigram on Sir Edward Coke, when he was Lord Chief Justice of England
• 47 An Epistle answering to one that asked to be sealed of the Tribe of Ben
• 48 The dedication of the King’s new cellar: to Bacchus
• 49 An Epigram on the Court Pucelle
• 50 An Epigram: to the honoured –––– Countess of ––––
• 51 Lord Bacon’s Birthday
• 52a A poem sent me by Sir William Burlase
• 52b My Answer: the Poet to the Painter
• 53 An Epigram to William, Earl of Newcastle
• 54 Epistle to Master Arthur Squibb
• 55 To Master John Burgess
• 56 Epistle to my Lady Covell
• 57 To Master John Burgess
• 58 Epigram, to my Bookseller
• 59 An Epigram to William, Earl of Newcastle
• 60 An Epitaph on Henry, Lord La Ware. To the passer-by
• 61 An Epigram
• 62 An Epigram to King Charles, for a hundred pounds he sent me in my sickness. 1629
• 63 To King Charles and Queen Mary for the loss of their first-born: an Epigram Consolatory. 1629
• 64 An epigram to our great and good King Charles, on his Anniversary Day. 1629
• 65 An Epigram on the Prince’s Birth, 1630
• 66 An Epigram to the Queen, then lying in. 1630
• 67 An Ode, or Song by all the Muses in celebration of Her Majesty’s Birthday. 1630
• 68 An Epigram to the Household. 1630
• 69 Epigram. To a Friend and Son
• 70 To the immortal memory and friendship of that noble pair, Sir Lucius Cary and Sir Henry Moryson
• 71 To the Right Honourable, the Lord High Treasurer of England: an Epistle Mendicant. 1631
• 72 To the King on his Birthday. An Epigram Anniversary, November 19, 1632
• 73 On the Right Honourable and virtuous Lord Weston, Lord High Treasurer of England, upon the day he was made Earl of Portland. 17 February 1633
• 74 To the Right Honourable Jerome, Lord Weston: An Ode gratulatory, for his return from his embassy, 1633
• 75 Epithalamion
• 76 The Humble Petition of Poor Ben to th’ Best of Monarchs
• 77 To the Right Honourable, the Lord Treasurer of England: An Epigram
• 78 An Epigram to my Muse, the Lady Digby, on her Husband, Sir Kenelm Digby
• 79 A New Year’s Gift sung to King Charles. 1636
• 82 To my lord the King, on the christening his second son James
• 83 An Elegy on the Lady Jane Paulet, Marchioness of Winchester.
• 84 Eupheme, or the fair fame left to posterity of that truly noble Lady, the Lady Venetia Digby
• 84.1 The Dedication of her Cradle
• 84.2 The Song of her Descent
• 84.3 The Picture of the Body
• 84.4 The Mind
• 84.8 Her Hopeful Issue
• 84.9 An Elegy on My Muse, the truly honoured Lady, the Lady Venetia Digby, who, living, gave me leave to call her sobeing herἈΠΟΘΕѠΣΙΣ, or relation to the saints
• 85 The Praises of a Country Life. Horace, Epode 2
• 86 Horace, Ode the First. The Fourth Book. To Venus
• 87 Horace, Ode 9, Book 3. To Lydia: Dialogue of Horace and Lydia
• 88 A Fragment of Petronius Arbiter Translated
• 89 Martial Epigram 8.77 translated
• HORACE, of the ART OF POETRY
• Note on the collation
• Bibliography
• Index of Titles
• Index of first lines