Timeline
Title
Country/Nationality
Ben Jonson
Benjamin Jonson was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satirical plays Every Man in His Humour (1598), Volpone, or The Fox (c. 1606), The Alchemist (1610) and Bartholomew Fair (1614) and for his lyric and epigrammatic poetry. "He is generally regarded as the second most important English dramatist, after William Shakespeare, during the reign of James I."
Jonson was a classically educated, well-read and cultured man of the English Renaissance with an appetite for controversy (personal and political, artistic and intellectual) whose cultural influence was of unparalleled breadth upon the playwrights and the poets of the Jacobean era (1603–1625) and of the Caroline era (1625–1642).
His ancestors spelled the family name with a letter "t" (Johstone or Johnstoun). While the spelling had eventually changed to the more common "Johnson", the playwright's own particular preference became "Jonson".
Books by Ben Jonson
The Alchemist
The Alchemist is a comedy by English playwright Ben Jonson. First performed in 1610 by the King's Men, it is generally considered Jonson's best and most characteristic comedy; Samuel Taylor Coleridge believed that it had one of the three most perfect...
The Devil is an Ass
In a world where greed and corruption rule, one man is determined to outwit the devil himself. Ben Jonson's The Devil is an Ass is a satirical comedy that follows the exploits of Pug, a junior devil who is sent to Earth to possess a wealthy man name...
Forest
The Forest is a short collection of Ben Jonson's poetry. This collection of fifteen poems first appeared in the 1616 first folio of his collected works. (Summary by Sheldon Greaves)
To Celia
To Celia is a beloved Renaissance lyric poem by Ben Jonson, famous for its setting to music as the popular song "Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes." The poem, first published in 1616, celebrates the beauty of a woman named Celia, comparing her to vari...
Simplex Munditiis
Simplex Munditiis is a satirical poem by Ben Jonson, an influential English poet and playwright. Written in the style of the classical poetry of Ancient Greece and Rome, the poem humorously critiques the everyday life and topics of Jonson's day.
Volpone, or, The Fox
Volpone, a wealthy Venetian nobleman, feigns a debilitating illness to lure three greedy men, Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino, into believing they will inherit his fortune. He orchestrates a complex web of deceit, using his cunning servant Mosca as h...
Every Man In His Humour
Every Man in His Humour is a satirical comedy by Ben Jonson that follows the misadventures of a group of characters who are all obsessed with their own particular humours. Knowell, an old man, tries to spy on his son Edward to keep him from getting i...
Every Man Out of His Humour
Every Man Out of His Humour is a satirical comedy written by Ben Jonson in 1599. It was first performed by the Lord Chamberlain's Men at the Globe Theatre. The play is a sequel to Jonson's earlier comedy, Every Man in His Humour, and it shares many o...
Cynthia's Revels, or The Fountain of Self-Love
Ben Jonson's "Cynthia's Revels" is a satirical comedy, a masque presented at court in 1600. The play follows a group of young men who, inspired by the mythical figure Cynthia, engage in various self-indulgent and narcissistic activities. Their pursui...