Product Description
As part of the Complete Critical Guide series, this volume offers the broadest range of information on Jonson and his works, from background on contexts to details of recent interpretations of his plays. ... Read more

Product Description
The Poetaster is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by Ben Jonson is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of Ben Jonson then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Ovid, Virgil, Horace and Two Inept Poets
Poetaster - one of Ben Jonson's earliest plays - was first staged in 1601, the same year as Hamlet. A poetaster is a trivial rhymester, a writer of doggerel, at best an inferior poet. A poetaster is pretentious, and places undue value on his own work. Apparently, the first occurrence of this term is in this play.

Ben Jonson was an exuberant individual that was often in trouble, with perhaps the most public example being the so-called War of the Theatres (1599-1601). Somehow he had managed to become entangled in an acrimonious exchange with two rival playwrights, John Marston and Thomas Dekker, and this satirical play, Poetaster, was a return volley from Jonson. Despite its setting in ancient Rome, the audience quickly recognized that the two rather mean-spirited, envious, inept poets, Crispinus and Demetrius, represented Marston and Dekker.

Poetaster is less scholarly than some of Jonson's plays, and consequently is easier going, but good footnotes are still to be valued. Although Jonson's ridicule of Crispinus and Demetrius comprises a significant number of scenes, this play is more about the Roman poets Ovid, Virgil, and Horace and their relationship with governmental authority.

Contrary to his father's urgings that he study law, Ovid pursues poetry; Ovid evens transcribes his law notes into poetry. Ovid loves and is loved by Julia, the only daughter of Emperor Augustus Caesar. Ovid has great talent, but exercises poor judgment leading to conflict with the Augustus himself.

Virgil, a commoner by birth, is a favorite of Augustus. The emperor seats Virgil by his side and asks him to read from the Aeneid. In contrast to Ovid, Virgil symbolizes the unity of poetry with the state.

Horace is a younger, less-experienced poet that has become the innocent victim of envy and libel by Crispinus and Demetrius. Vindicated by Roman law, Horace is allowed to select an appropriate punishment. Horace's (that is, Jonson's) punishment for Crispinus (that is, Marston) is memorable.

If you are new to Jonson, I suggest beginning with his better known comedies like The Alchemist and Volpone. But don't neglect his lesser known plays. Poetaster is quite good, and it is interesting for its insight on the Elizabethan theatre.

Fierce, funny comedy from the age of Shakespeare
Shakespeare's friend and rival, Ben Jonson, shows off his classical learning and comic brilliance at the same time with a satire about the Roman poets. Lovesick Ovid and honest Horace are the heroes, with a pack ofliars, slanderers, and terrible amateur poets (or "poetasters")as the villains. This play isn't as popular as Jonson's best known works,like _Volpone_ and _The Alchemist_, but there aren't many playwrights whocan get laughs both from literary criticism and from vomiting, let aloneget laughs from both at the same time. Jonson can. If you likeShakespeare's grittier works (say, _Troilus and Cressida_) or the comediesof Thomas Middleton, this is definitely for you. ... Read more

Product Description
Classic Elizabethan play. According to Prof. Felix Schelling in his introduction to the Complete Plays of Ben Jonson: "THE greatest of English dramatists except Shakespeare, the first literary dictator and poet-laureate, a writer of verse, prose, satire,and criticism who most potently of all the men of his time affected the subsequent course of English letters:such was Ben Jonson, and as such his strong personality assumes an interest to us almost unparalleled, at least in his age." According to Wikipedia: "Benjamin 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

Customer Reviews (2)

Notable for Its Surprise Ending - Has Not Perhaps Weathered As Well as Volpone, The Alchemist, or Bartholomew Fair
Ben Jonson's Epicoene, or The Silent Woman, was first staged in late 1609, or early 1610. Epicoene is difficult to characterize. It is essentially a comedy with an element of sexual wit, and yet it has a surprise ending, one that is markedly non-comedic and leaves a bitter taste. Despite the sharp ending, the surprising twist in the final scene is critical to Jonson's play and I strongly suggest you avoid any discussion of the plot until after your first reading of Epicoene.

In general, I had less empathy for the upper class characters in Epicoene than I did for Jonson's lower class, bawdy rogues that populate The Alchemist and Bartholomew's Fair. The characters in Epicoene are not terribly disagreeable; they are largely dilettantes that have little concern for morality or ethics. For example, the character Truewit, speaking of some promiscuous ladies who live apart from their husbands, says:"Why, all their actions are governed by crude opinion, without reason or cause; they know not why they do anything; but as they are informed, believe, judge, praise, condemn, love, hate, and in emulation of one another, do all these things alike."

I had difficulty understanding the intent of some dialogue on my first reading.My second reading was much easier, perhaps helped a bit by my now knowing the unexpected ending.

Epicoene was staged frequently for nearly 150 years, but its popularity declined after about 1750. Apparently, performances in 1752 and 1776 and 1784 were unsuccessful, and it did not reappear until 1895.There were few performances in twentieth century.

I recommend the New Mermaids edition (ISBN 0393900401) edited by Roger Holdsworth; there have been multiple printings and it should not be difficult to find a copy. The footnotes are quite helpful. The introduction is lengthy, almost 50 pages. There is also an appendix containing the play's music and some of Jonson's classical sources.

Another source: Epicoene is often included in collections of Ben Jonson's plays, like the inexpensive World Classics edition published by Oxford University Press.

Epicoene or Epicene? Both versions are found. And Jonson's play also goes by the title, The Silent Woman. Good luck in your title searches

Violence! Cross-dressing! Impotence!
All are to be found in "Epicoene," an extremely funny if slightly dark Ben Jonson play. I don't want to give much of a summary because I don't want to reveal any plot twists, but it begins with the common Renaissance theme of men looking for wives . . . and chaos ensues. I am very fond of the New Mermaids edition because it includes very interesting and relevant information about original staging and such. This play is a good starting place for non-Jonson fans; this edition is a good one for Jonson scholars. Reccomended. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishings Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the worlds literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Each version and edition reveals new facets
I came upon this play and Ben Jonson by the back door. I was watching a movie titled "The Honey Pot" with Rex Harrison. His character Cecil Fox after observing this play used the outline for his own purposes. So naturally, I have to read the play to see what the movie is mimicking.

I have several copies of "Valpone" (the fox) to compare information on Ben. This is a review of the "New Mermaids Series" I have several of their series. They give you all the background information and any annotation needed. They make the information interesting enough that you feel that Ben Jonson is in the room with you. I am sure some people would not want to be in the same room. I was surprised to find that William Shakespeare acted in some of Ben's plays.

The play is well written and has many levels to it. If it did not have so many footnotes, I would be in trouble. It reads as an English play yet has parts that would make Stephen King blush.

"The Honey Pot" Starring: Rex Harrison, Susan Hayward
... Read more

Product Description
This volume offers an abundant and representative selection of theverse of Ben Jonson and the Cavalier poets.Jonson is represented by a wide selection from the Epigrams, includingthe mock epic "On the Famous Voyage"; The Forest, complete; extensiveselections from Underwood, including such well-known pieces as "ACelebration of Charis" and the Cary-Morison ode, together with the"Epithalamion" on the Weston-Stuart nuptials and "An Execration UponVulcan"; and more.

Also included is a copious selection from the works of Richard Corbett,Robert Herrick (eighty-two poems from Hesperides and fifteen from HisNoble Numbers), Thomas Carew, James Shirley, Mildmay Fane, ThomasRandolph, Edmund Waller, William Harbington, Sir John Suckling, SidneyGodolphin, William Cartwright, James Graham (Marquis of Montrose), SirJohn Denham, Richard Lovelace, Abraham Cowley, Henry Vaughan, andThomas Stanley.

The spelling and punctuation of the poems have been made consistentwith modern practice. These and other alterations are discussed in theTextual Notes. Footnotes serve primarily to gloss unfamiliar terms, toclarify syntax, and to explain allusions to mythological and historicalfigures and episodes.

Among the critics represented are Ben Jonson, Francis Beaumont, EdmundBolton, James Howell, Thomas Fuller, Edward Hyde, Samuel Butler, JohnDryden, Samuel Johnson, William Hazlitt, Algernon Charles Swinburne,Patrick Cruttwell, Joseph Summers, Earl Miner, Geoffrey Walton, G. A.E. Parfitt, L. A. Beaurline, Stephen Orgel, Ronald Berman, Bruce King,Hugh Richmond, Earl Wasserman, D. C. Allen, T. S. Eliot, and HughMaclean. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Authoritative, indeed!
This volume claims to have the authoritative texts of poems by Ben Jonson and his followers (including Richard Corbett, Robert Herrick, Thomas Carew, Thomas Randolph, and Edmund Waller, among others). This claim is certainly a fair one. Also incuded are wonderful, relevant critical essays, some of them modern, some written by Jonson and his contemporaries. The essays and the variety of poets give this edition a feeling of completness; it is very good to have one poet's work right next to the responses of other poets to said work.

The poetry itself, of course, is wonderful. During their lives, Jonson's work was thought to rival that of Shakespeare. These comparaisons are perhaps eaiser to understand when reading Jonson's still-easily-accessible poetry than when reading his plays.

This volume is essential to any reader of Jonson. ... Read more

Product Description
This fully annotated and modernized collection of plays--including Every Man in his Humour, Sejanus, Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair--represents the full range and complexity of Jonson's art as a playwright. ... Read more

Product Description
Bringing together a group of established and emergent Jonson scholars, this volume reacts to major new advances in thinking about the writer and his canon of works. The study is divided into two distinct parts: the first considers the Jonsonian career and output from biographical, critical, and performance-based angles; the second looks at cultural and historical contexts building on rich interdisciplinary work. Social historians work alongside literary critics to provide a diverse and varied account of Jonson. These are less standard surveys of the field than vibrant interventions into current critical debates. The short-essay format of the collection seeks less to harmonize and homogenize than to raise awareness of new avenues of research on Jonson, including studies informed by book history, cultural geography, the law and legal discourse, the history of science, and interests in material culture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A great book
On a great man by a great scholar and writer.

Life (5 stars) and Lit Crit (zero)
Ben Jonson, Shakespeare's slightly younger contemporary, is the earliest English author who left behind enough evidence to make a literary biography possible.Not that the evidence is, by modern standards, voluminous.We do not know for certain when Jonson was born, who his father was or how long he went to school.His relationships with patrons and fellow writers are obscure, and his conduct was sometimes so reckless as to defy rational explanation.His determined efforts to fashion a persona only make his personality murkier.On paper, he was both a champion of morality and a venturer into the near neighborhood of pornography.In praxis, he seduced other men's wives while risking his own life and well-being as a religious dissident.

David Riggs' thorough biography emphasizes Jonson's contradictions.Actually, it may find more contradictions than really exist.The author appears to be a convinced disciple of modern critical theory, a searcher after ambiguity who frequently drowns text in subtext.Foucault, Barthes, Fish and lesser lights of the deconstructionist priesthood receive proper marks of respect.Happily, though, Riggs is not quite so dense as his inspirers; except when quoting them directly, his meaning can be more or less understood.

With the lit crit trappings (happily only a fraction of the whole work) stripped away, the tale of Jonson's rise from bricklayer's stepson to cultural arbiter is fascinating.Though claiming descent from an official of Henry VIII's court, he grew up among the laboring classes and would doubtless have followed his stepfather into the bricklaying trade, had some unknown benefactor not enabled him to enroll at Winchester, one of the finest grammar schools of the day.While Riggs finds no evidence that young Ben's education continued beyond the Fourth Form (his prodigious classical learning came from adult reading), it was sufficient, apparently, to instill a love of books and literature that led him, after detours into the army and acting, as well as some serious scrapes with the law, to become a professional writer for the stage.

Jonson's career spanned the full range of the literary world of his time.In the beginning, he cadged advances from impresarios and earned so little that, after selling several plays, he returned for a while to his bricks.At the height, he enjoyed the bounty of royal and noble patrons, who rewarded him well for masques and occasional poems.At the end, though patrons grew fewer and his plays no longer appealed to the popular taste, he had the comfort of a circle of acolytes, the "Sons of Ben", and unrivaled prestige.

On the ups and downs of this life, Riggs' detailed account is clear and authoritative.On the other hand, his analysis of the plays and poems that make us interested in the life is more likely to puzzle than enlighten.Fellow scholars will no doubt find useful nuggets, but the reader whose acquaintance with Jonson is perhaps limited to a long-ago perusal of "Volpone" or "Everyman in His Humour", and who wishes to get a better idea of the nature of the author's works, will find little help.

There is also one noteworthy omission.The first name that most readers will look for in Riggs' index is "Shakespeare", and they will find almost nothing.That gap stems from a praiseworthy reluctance to speculate beyond the evidence or to accept as evidence the dubious legends of later generations.Still, the subject is one on which a slight boldness of inference would be welcome.

A successful literary biography, someone has said, recruits new readers for its subject.This one does not pass that test, but, for anyone who is already interested in the second greatest dramatist of the Elizabethan Age, it will be quite satisfactory. ... Read more

Product Description
This major new study of Elizabethan and Jacobean royal entertainments, including country house entertainments, tiltyard speeches, and court masques, is the first to look in detail at the evidence provided by the surviving material texts. Drafts, royal presentation manuscripts, widely-circulating scribal copies, and printed pamphlets are all carefully placed in their cultural context, and the medium of manuscript is shown to have been at least as important as print for these texts' circulation. From the close collaboration between commissioning host and hired writer, to the varied interpretations imposed by copyists and publishers, entertainments were written and read within a complex social nexus: far from being royal propaganda, they reflected the distinct and sometimes competing agendas of monarchs, commissioning hosts, authors, publishers, scribal intermediaries, and readers.

Writing and Reading Royal Entertainments explores this interpretative community through a range of texts. The first part of the book looks at Elizabethan entertainments: the Woodstock entertainment of 1575 (Chapter I); tiltyard speeches (Chapter II); and the distinctive features of printed pamphlets and scribal copies, notably of the 1602 Harefield entertainment (Chapter III). The second part of the book is mostly concerned with Ben Jonson's work for the Jacobean court, with chapters on the Merchant Taylors' entertainment (Chapter IV) and the Theobalds' entertainment (Chapter V). The final chapter looks at the texts of court masques, especially in the light of Jonson's understanding of the poet's elevated role. The book's conclusion takes the story of these material texts beyond the early modern period and looks at how they have been collected, bought, and sold over the centuries. ... Read more

Product Description
The Alchemist has been described as "the greatest farce in the English language".In this newly established edition, Ben Jonson's rich play offers intriguing insights info London life of the early seventeenth century.He satirises and celebrates the confusions and anarchy of a fast-moving city world populated by a fascinating array of diverse and devious characters.Cambridge Literature is a series of study texts which presents writing in the English-speaking world from the 16th century up to the present day.The series includes novels, drama, short stories, poetry, essays and other types of non-fiction.Each edition has the complete text with an appropriate glossary.The student will find in each volume a helpful introduction and a full section of resource notes encouraging active and imaginative study methods. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Under Shakespeare's Shadow.

Ben Jonson is a great writer who's only mistake must be to have been born at the same time as the great Shakespeare. Full of satire and sexual innuendos, The Alchemist narrates the tale of two rogues, one the alchemist who promises people to turn all their items to gold and the other his helper. Matched with a prostitute who fools around with them it makes a comic tale of lust and greed.

The apprentice always gets the treasure chest
A comedy that reveals some common traits in Ben Jonson plays. The Alchemist is a crook who, with the help of a woman and a servant, tries to get as much money as possible from anyone who is ready to believe brilliant promises founded on myths like turning lead into gold, or ready palms, or ready the stars and predicting the future, or getting married to some nobleman. It is all a bunch of lies wrapped up in beautiful language that uses a lot of Latin and Greek to make the promises both dim and brilliant, dim in meaning and brilliant in sound. It works very well till the neighbours start complaining about the agitation in the street and in the house, and till the owner of the house comes back and finds out what is going on. But the servant, aptly named Face, manages to get out of the trap by providing the owner of the house with a wife in the shape of a widow that had been brought in to marry a hypothetical Spanish count. She takes the first one that is ready to go through the procedure and it is the landlord. Since she brings a good dowry,this landlord keeps the servant Face in his service. On the other side the two other crooks, Subtle, the Alchemist, and Doll, his woman, have escaped through the backyard leaving everything behind, particularly everything they had been able to get from their gullible clients. Face gets the profit and is purified by his new master. The master of the house easily gets everyone out, all the complainers who do not dare go to a court, especially since they have no written evidence of the tricks they have been the victims of, which would mean they would look like fools. They just drop the matter and go away. Crooks once again work in groups and it is the lowest servant of the band that reveals himself to be more intelligent and swift than his own master, so that he cheats him out of the profit, he manages to get clean out of the business, and he even gets a better position than before. All along Ben Jonson ridicules doctors, puritans, rich people who want to satisfy their ambition for power with quick easy and somewhat magical means. Hence the gullible victims of such crooks are definitely made fun of, though Ben Jonson saves morality in a way by punishing the master crook who loses everything, and yet is immoral because the crook apprentice or helper gets all the profit, hence stealing all the victims of what they had paid or given. Rather brilliant though slightly verbose.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

there are two books called the ALCHEMIST
most of the reviews here are for the book by Coehlo-- a modern fairy tale about "following your heart".THE BOOK ON THIS PAGE IS BY BEN JOHNSON the famous renaissance poet.Someone out there in amazon.com land should fix this!!!

aaagghhhh
What's going on?You are all referring to the WRONG BOOK ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
1816. Part Seven of Nine. Dramatist, poet, scholar and writer of court masques, Ben Jonson was the leading literary figure during the reign of King James I. Jonson was known as an avid scholar of Latin and Greek, and his mastery of the classics, the high-spirited buoyancy of his plays and the brilliance of his language have earned him a reputation as one of the great playwrights in English literature. Jonson was appointed court poet in 1605, and became a writer of court masques-elaborate spectacles that involved music, dancing, and pageantry. Many of his early masques were created in partnership with architect Inigo Jones, who designed elaborate stage sets for the performances. Among the most attractive of his masques maybe mentioned the Masque of Blackness, the Masque of Beauty, and the Masque of Queens. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing. ... Read more

Product Description
A quintesstential selection of the dramatic work of Ben Jonson, this edition features the plays Poetaster, Sejanus, The Devil is An Ass, and New Inn. Jonson's work is renowned for its wit and biting religions and social commentarythese four plays are no exception. The plays featured in this edition have been freshly edited from the earliest printed texts. The introduction focuses on the interaction between poet and state authority, and the need for new productions of these rarely performed classics from our dramatic heritage. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Collection of Ben Jonson's Lesser Known Plays
This excellent Oxford World's Classics collection is unusual in that none of these plays by Ben Jonson were well-received when first performed, and furthermore, have seldom been staged until recent years. Nonetheless, all four plays - Poetaster, Sejanus his Fall, The Devil is an Ass, and The New Inn - make good reading.

I especially recommend these plays to readers already familiar with Jonson's better known works like Volpone, The Alchemist, Epicene, and Bartholomew Fair. Reading Jonson can require effort and this Oxford World's Classics edition is to be highly commended for the excellent introduction, explanatory notes, and glossary by Margaret Jane Kidnie.

Poetaster: Among his earliest plays, Poetaster was first staged in 1601, the same year as Hamlet. (A poetaster is a trivial rhymester, a writer of doggerel, at best an inferior poet.) Although Poetaster is primarily about the relationship of the Roman poets Ovid, Virgil, and Horace with governmental authority, several scenes are devoted to ridiculing two mean-spirited, envious, plagiaristic poets, Crispinus and Demetrius. Despite the setting in ancient Rome, the audience quickly recognized that these two inept poets were caricatures of Jonson's bitter rivals, John Marston and Thomas Dekker.

Sejanus his Fall:Previously, Jonson had focused on satirical comedies; writing a historical tragedy was quite a change. Unfortunately, despite a cast that included Richard Burbage and William Shakespeare (perhaps, playing the lascivious Tiberius), Sejanus his Fall was a failure. To make matters worse, despite Jonson's effort to carefully document the historical accuracy of his play, he was summoned by the Privy Council to defend himself against charges of sedition and slander. Apparently, in recent performances Sejanus has fared much better. While I enjoyed reading Sejanus, Jonson may have overly constrained his artistic freedom by his insistence to adhere rigidly to historical accounts.

The Devil is an Ass: This mildly satirical play, like Bartholomew Fair, abounds with unscrupulous characters, con men, and gullible dupes. Jonson successfully interweaves several subplots involving deceit and trickery, creating an enjoyable comedy. The play begins as a lesser devil, named Pug, requests an opportunity to visit London to entrap innocents, thereby ensuring their doom. Satan is skeptical. He considers modern 1616 London to be more corrupt and dissolute than Hell itself. Satan reluctantly allows Pug to proceed.

The New Inn (or, The Light Heart): Jonson's final play was notably unsuccessful, being cancelled after a single night. Contrastingly, a modern production by the Royal Shakespeare Company received much acclaim. The editor, Margaret Jane Kidnie, urges the reader to read the play before reading Jonson's introductory summary, titled the Argument, which gives away the ending. It is probably prudent also to skip the short description of the play's characters. Act Five is best as a surprise. ... Read more

Product Description
This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1816 edition by W. Bulmer and Co., London. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
In one of his last plays, Jonson atypically wrote of love, which is also a story of family reunion and a typical Jonsonian banquet of humors. Hattaway characterizes the play as a tribute to Shakespeare, and as a belated recognition that the fantasies of romance contain profound truths. In this new edition, the spelling has been modernized, the text updated, and a critical introduction has been added. It also contains helpful appendices and a commentary that explains difficult or significant passages.
... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more