(
1572 -
1637) Jonson published his
Works in
1616. At the time, not many of Jonson's contemporaries were having their works published because they either wrote for small
coterie audiences, or (like
Shakespeare) they wrote for
theater companies that did not want to share their
scripts. Some consider Jonson the first professional
author in
England, and if he was not, he was the first respectable author.
Jonson was the
posthumous son of a
London clergyman. He went to
Westminster school until his
financial resources ran out and he became a
bricklayer like his
stepfather. To escape this life, he joined the army. When he returned to London, he began to make a life as an
actor and
playwright. In
1597, he was imprisoned for a play,
The Isle of Dogs, he wrote with
Thomas Nashe. He also killed a fellow actor in a
duel. He escaped the
gallows because he could read
Latin. While he was in prison, he converted to
Catholicism. Later, he would return to the
Church of England.
Jonson gradually built up his career. Although, Jonson got in trouble for some of his
satirical works, he eventually rose to
a respectable position in society despite his checkered past. He was a
favorite of
King James I.
The poets that followed Ben Jonson and met with him are called the Sons of Ben or the Tribe of Ben.
Ben Jonson's Plays
The Alchemist
Bartholomew Fair
The Case is Altered
Catiline
Cynthia's Revels
The Devil is an Ass
Eastward Ho
Epicoene or The Silent Woman
Every Man in His Humour
Every Man out of His Humour
The Magnetic Lady
The New Inn
Poetaster
The Sad Shepherd
Sejanus
The Staple of News
Tale of a Tub
Volpone or The Fox
Ben Jonson's Poetry
see The Poetry of Ben Jonson