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:
“Hear me, O God!
A broken heart,
Is my best part:
Use still thy rod,
That I may prove
Therein, thy Love.
If thou hadst not
Beene stern to mee.
But left me free.
I had forgot
My selfe and thee.”
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637)
“My title’s sealed. Those that for claps do write,
Let pui’nies, porters’, players’ praise delight,
And, till they burst, their backs like asses load:
A man should seek great glory, and not broad.”
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637)
“It is not growing like a tree
In bulk, doth make man better be,
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere:
A lily of a day
Is fairer far in May
Although it fall and die that night;
It was the plant and flower of light.
In small proportions we just beauties see,
And in short measures life may perfect be.”
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637)