Cynthia's Revels - The Poetomachia

The Poetomachia

In Satiromastix, another play of the Poetomachia, Thomas Dekker accuses Jonson of having portrayed himself as Criticus, who is described as "a creature of almost perfect and divine temper" (Cynthia's Revels, II,iii). Some commentators have argued that Jonson was not quite so vain as to describe himself this way, and that, based on an allusion elsewhere in Jonson's works, Criticus may instead represent John Donne. Individual commentators have tried to identify other characters in the play with historical and literary figures of the era (Anaides, for example, being Marston — or Dekker), though a firm scholarly consensus on identifications has not evolved.