Poet · Elizabethan
Ben Jonson
English poet · 1572–1637
Ben Jonson — bricklayer's stepson, soldier in Flanders, and Shakespeare's great rival playwright — killed an actor in a duel in 1598 and escaped the gallows only by reciting a Latin verse, the medieval loophole known as benefit of clergy. He went on to receive a royal pension as, in effect, England's first Poet Laureate.
For all his swagger, his most lasting poems are heartbreakingly tender. "On My First Son," written when his boy Benjamin died of plague at seven, calls the child "his best piece of poetrie." And "Song: To Celia" — "Drink to me only with thine eyes" — has been sung at gatherings for four hundred years.
He is buried upright in Westminster Abbey under the misspelled epitaph "O Rare Ben Johnson."
13 poems by Ben Jonson
Full text, free to read — all in the public domain.
- A Farewell to the WorldFALSE world, good night! since thou hast brought…36 lines
- A Hymn to God the FatherHear me, O God!…32 lines
- A Part of an Odeto the Immortal Memory and Friendship of that noble pair, Sir Lucius Cary and Sir H. Morison…65 lines
- An Epitaph On A Child Of Queen Elizabeth's ChapelWeep with me, all you that read…24 lines
- It Is Not Growing Like A TreeIt is not growing like a tree…10 lines
- Song from The Silent WomanStill to be neat, still to be dressed,…12 lines
- Song: To Celia (Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes)Drink to me only with thine eyes,…16 lines
- Song To Celia - ICome, my Celia, let us prove…18 lines
- Song To DianaQueen and huntress, chaste and fair,…18 lines
- That Women Are But Men's ShadowsFollow a shadow, it still flies you;…12 lines
- To HeavenGood and great God, can I not think of thee…26 lines
- To The Memory Of My Beloved, The Author, Mr William Shakespeare, And What He Hath Left UsTo draw no envy, Shakespeare, on thy name…80 lines
- On My First SonFarewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy,…12 lines