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:

    “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)

    “The wheel of fortune guide you,
    The boy with the bow beside you
    Run aye in the way
    Till the bird of day
    And the luckier lot betide you.”
    —Ben Jonson (1572–1637)

    “We are persons of quality, I assure you, and women of fashion, and come to see and to be seen.”
    —Ben Jonson (c. 1572–1637)

    “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)

    “Blueness doth express trueness.”
    —Ben Jonson (1573–1637)