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:

    “Weep with me, all you that read
    This little story;
    And know, for whom a tear you shed
    Death’s self is sorry.”
    —Ben Jonson (1572–1637)

    “Give me a look, give me a face,
    That makes simplicity a grace;
    Robes loosely flowing, hair as free:
    Such sweet neglect more taketh me,
    Than all the adulteries of art;
    They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.”
    —Ben Jonson (c. 1572–1637)

    “Buz, quoth the blue fly,
    Hum, quoth the bee,
    Buz and hum they cry,
    And so do we:
    In his ear, in his nose, thus, do you see?
    He ate the dormouse, else it was he.”
    —Ben Jonson (1572–1637)

    “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)

    “The players have often mentioned it as an honour to Shakespeare, that in his writing, whatsoever he penned, he never blotted out [a] line. My answer hath been, ‘Would he had blotted a thousand.’”
    —Ben Jonson (c. 1572–1637)