Complete Poems of Ben Jonson

by Jonson, Ben (Author); Parfitt, George (Editor/introduction)

• ISBN13: 9780140422771
• ISBN10: 0140422773
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1988-09-01
• Publisher: Penguin Classics

Summary

One of the greatest English playwrights of the seventeenth century, Ben Jonson was also a deeply influential lyric poet, whose poetry combined classical ideals with a vigorous interest in contemporary life and colloquial language. The Complete Poems contains all the volumes of poetry Jonson published in his lifetime - including Epigrams, The Forest and Underwoods - alongside a wide variety of his other poems collected after his death. Ranging from deeply moving pieces such as ‘On My First Son' and the elegant love lyric ‘Song to Celia' to brutally satirical poems such as ‘On Poet-Ape' and the reflective ‘An Ode to Himself', it offers a powerful celebration of both one man's life, and of an age.

Table of Contents

Preface	19	(4)
Table of Dates	23	(4)
Further Reading	27	(4)
Epigrams	31	(2)
Dedication	33	(60)
To the Reader	35	(1)
To My Book	35	(1)
To My Bookseller	35	(1)
To King James	36	(1)
On the Union	36	(1)
To Alchemists	36	(1)
On the New Hot-House	36	(1)
On a Robbery	37	(1)
To All, to Whom I Write	37	(1)
To My Lord Ignorant	37	(1)
On Something, that Walks Somewhere	37	(1)
On Lieutenant Shift	38	(1)
To Doctor Empiric	38	(1)
To William Camden	39	(1)
On Court-Worm	39	(1)
To Brain-Hardy	39	(1)
To the Learned Critic	40	(1)
To My Mere English Censurer	40	(1)
On Sir Cod the Perfumed	40	(1)
To the Same Sir Cod	40	(1)
On Reformed Gamester	41	(1)
On My First Daughter	41	(1)
To John Donne	41	(1)
To the Parliament	42	(1)
On Sir Voluptuous Beast	42	(1)
On the Same Beast	42	(1)
On Sir John Roe	42	(1)
On Don Surly	43	(1)
To Sir Annual Tilter	43	(1)
To Person Guilty	44	(1)
On Bank the Usurer	44	(1)
On Sir John Roe	44	(1)
To the Same	44	(1)
Of Death	45	(1)
To King James	45	(1)
To the Ghost of Martial	45	(1)
On Cheveril the Lawyer	45	(1)
To Person Guilty	46	(1)
On Old Colt	46	(1)
On Margaret Ratcliffe	46	(1)
On Gypsy	47	(1)
On Giles and Joan	47	(1)
To Robert, Earl of Salisbury	47	(1)
On Chuff, Banks the Usurer's Kinsman	48	(1)
On My First Son	48	(1)
To Sir Luckless Woo-All	48	(1)
To the Same	49	(1)
On Mongrel Esquire	49	(1)
To Playwright	49	(1)
To Sir Cod	49	(1)
To King James	50	(1)
To Censorious Courtling	50	(1)
To Old-End Gatherer	50	(1)
On Cheveril	51	(1)
To Francis Beaumont	51	(1)
On Poet-Ape	51	(1)
On Bawds and Usurers	52	(1)
To Groom Idiot	52	(1)
On Spies	52	(1)
To William, Lord Mounteagle	52	(1)
To Fool, or Knave	53	(1)
To Fine Lady Would-Be	53	(1)
To Robert, Earl of Salisbury	53	(1)
To the Same	54	(1)
To My Muse	54	(1)
To Sir Henry Cary	55	(1)
To Thomas, Earl of Suffolk	55	(1)
On Playwright	56	(1)
To Pertinax Cob	56	(1)
To William Roe	56	(1)
On Court-Parrot	56	(1)
To Courtling	57	(1)
To Fine Grand	57	(1)
To Thomas, Lord Chancellor	58	(1)
On Lip the Teacher	58	(1)
On Lucy, Countess of Bedford	58	(1)
To One that Desired Me Not to Name Him	59	(1)
To Hornet	59	(1)
To Elizabeth, Countess of Rutland	59	(1)
Of Life and Death	60	(1)
To Prowl the Plagiary	60	(1)
On Cashiered Capt[ain] Surly	60	(1)
To a Friend	60	(1)
To Lucy, Countess of Bedford	61	(1)
To Sir Henry Goodyere	61	(1)
To the Same	61	(1)
On Captain Hazard the Cheater	62	(1)
On English Monsieur	62	(1)
To Edward Alleyn	62	(1)
On Mill, My Lady's Woman	63	(1)
To Sir Horace Vere	64	(1)
The New Cry	64	(1)
To Sir John Radcliffe	65	(1)
To Lucy, Countess of Bedford, with Mr Donne's Satires	66	(1)
To Sir Henry Savile	66	(1)
To John Donne	67	(1)
On the New Motion	68	(1)
To Sir Thomas Roe	69	(1)
To the Same	69	(1)
On Playwright	69	(1)
Inviting a Friend to Supper	70	(1)
To William, Earl of Pembroke	71	(1)
To Mary, Lady Wroth	71	(1)
To Susan, Countess of Montgomery	72	(1)
To Mary, Lady Wroth	72	(1)
To Sir Edward Herbert	73	(1)
To Captain Hungry	73	(1)
To True Soldiers	74	(1)
To Sir Henry Nevil	75	(1)
To Clement Edmonds	75	(1)
To the Same	76	(1)
To a Weak Gamester in Poetry	77	(1)
To Sir Thomas Overbury	77	(1)
To Mrs Philip Sidney	78	(1)
On the Town's Honest Man	78	(1)
To Sir William Jephson	79	(1)
On Groin	80	(1)
On Gut	80	(1)
To Sir Ra[1]ph Shelton	80	(1)
Epitaph on S.P., a Child of Q[ueen] El[izabeth's] Chapel	81	(1)
To Benjamin Rudyerd	81	(1)
To the Same	82	(1)
To the Same	82	(1)
Epitaph on Elizabeth, L.H.	82	(1)
To Sir William Uvedale	83	(1)
To His Lady, then Mrs Cary	83	(1)
To Esme, Lord Aubigny	83	(1)
To William Roe	84	(1)
To Mime	84	(1)
To Alphonso Ferrabosco, on His Book	85	(1)
To the Same	85	(1)
To Mr Joshua Sylvester	86	(1)
On the Famous Voyage	86	(7)
The Forest	93	(28)
Why I Write not of Love	95	(1)
To Penshurst	95	(3)
To Sir Robert Wroth	98	(3)
To the World	101	(2)
Song. To Celia	103	(1)
To the Same	103	(1)
Song. That Women are but Men's Shadows	104	(1)
To Sickness	104	(2)
Song. To Celia	106	(1)
`And must I sing? What subject shall I choose?'	106	(1)
Epode	107	(4)
Epistle to Elizabeth, Countess of Rutland	111	(2)
Epistle. To Katherine, Lady Aubigny	113	(4)
Ode. To Sir William Sidney, on His Birthday	117	(2)
To Heaven	119	(2)
Underwoods	121	(1)
To the Reader	122	(131)
Poems of Devotion	123	(3)
The Sinner's Sacrifice	123	(1)
A Hymn to God the Father	124	(1)
A Hymn on the Nativity of My Saviour	125	(1)
A Celebration of Charis in Ten Lyric Pieces	126	(9)
His Excuse for Loving	126	(1)
How He Saw Her	127	(1)
What He Suffered	128	(1)
Her Triumph	129	(1)
His Discourse with Cupid	129	(2)
Claiming a Second Kiss by Desert	131	(1)
Begging Another, on Colour of Mending the Former	132	(1)
Urging Her of a Promise	133	(1)
Her Man Described by Her Own Dictamen	133	(2)
Another Lady's Exception, Present at the Hearing	135	(1)
The Musical Strife; in a Pastoral Dialogue	135	(2)
`Oh do not wanton with those eyes'	137	(1)
In the Person of Womankind	137	(1)
Another. In Defence of Their Inconstancy. A Song	138	(1)
A Nymph's Passion	138	(2)
The Hour-Glass	140	(1)
My Picture Left in Scotland	140	(1)
Against Jealousy	141	(1)
The Dream	141	(1)
An Epitaph on Master Vincent Corbet	142	(1)
An Epistle to Sir Edward Sackville, now Earl of Dorset	143	(4)
An Epistle to Master John Selden	147	(3)
An Epistle to a Friend, to Persuade Him to the Wars	150	(5)
An Epitaph on Master Philip Gray	155	(1)
Epistle to a Friend	155	(1)
An Elegy (`Can beauty that did prompt me first to write')	156	(1)
An Elegy (`By those bright eyes, at whose immortal fires')	156	(1)
A Satirical Shurb	157	(1)
A Little Shrub Growing By	158	(1)
An Elegy (`Though beauty be the mark of praise')	158	(2)
An Ode. To Himself	160	(1)
The Mind of the Frontispiece to a Book	161	(1)
An Ode to James, Earl of Desmond	161	(2)
An Ode (`High-spirited friend')	163	(1)
An Ode (`Helen, did Homer never see')	164	(1)
A Sonnet, to the Noble Lady, the Lady Mary Wroth	165	(1)
A Fit of Rhyme against Rhyme	166	(2)
An Epigram on William, Lord Burl[eigh]	168	(1)
An Epigram. To Thomas Lo[rd] Ellesmere	168	(1)
Another to Him	169	(1)
An Epigram to the Councillor that Pleaded and Carried the Cause	169	(2)
An Epigram. To the Small-Pox	171	(1)
An Epitaph	171	(1)
A Song (`Come, let us here enjoy the shade')	171	(1)
An Epistle to a Friend	172	(1)
An Elegy (`'Tis true, I'm broke! Vows, oaths, and all I had')	173	(4)
An Elegy	177	(1)
An Elegy (`That love's a bitter sweet, I ne'er conceive')	177	(1)
An Elegy (`Since you must go, and I must bid farewell')	178	(1)
An Elegy (`Let me be what I am, as Virgil cold')	179	(2)
An Execration upon Vulcan	181	(6)
A Speech according to Horace	187	(3)
An Epistle to Master Arth[ur] Squib	190	(1)
An Epigram on Sir Edward Coke	191	(1)
An Epistle Answering to One that Asked to be Sealed of the Tribe of Ben	191	(3)
The Dedication of the King's New Cellar. To Bacchus	194	(1)
An Epigram on the Court Pucell	195	(2)
An Epigram. To the Honoured---, Countess of---	197	(1)
Lord Bacon's Birthday	198	(1)
(A Poem Sent Me by Sir William Burlase)	198	(2)
An Epigram. To William, Earl of Newcastle	200	(1)
Epistle to Mr Arthur Squib	200	(1)
To Mr John Burges	201	(1)
Epistle. To My Lady Covell	201	(1)
To Master John Burges	202	(1)
Epigram to My Bookseller	203	(1)
An Epigram. To William, Earl of Newcastle	203	(1)
An Epitaph, on Henry L[ord] La-ware. To the Passer-By	204	(1)
An Epigram (`That you have seen the pride, beheld the sport')	205	(1)
An Epigram. To K[ing] Charles	205	(1)
To K[ing] Charles and Q[ueen] Mary	206	(1)
An Epigram. To our Great and Good K[ing] Charles	206	(1)
An Epigram on the Prince's Birth. 1630	207	(1)
An Epigram to the Queen, then Lying in. 1630	208	(1)
An Ode, or Song, by All the Muses	208	(2)
An Epigram. To the Household. 1630	210	(1)
An Epigram. To a Friend and Son	211	(1)
To the Immortal Memory and Friendship of that Noble Pair, Sir Lucius Cary and Sir H. Morison	211	(4)
To the Right Honourable, the Lord High Treasurer of England	215	(1)
To the King. On His Birthday	216	(1)
On the Right Honourable and Virtuous Lord Weston	217	(1)
To the Right Hon[oura]ble Hierome, L[ord] Weston	217	(1)
Epithalamion: or, a Song	218	(6)
The Humble Petition of Poor Ben to the Best of Monarchs, Masters, Men, King Charles	224	(1)
To the Right Honourable, the Lord Treasurer of England. An Epigram	225	(1)
An Epigram to My Muse, the Lady Digby, on Her Husband, Sir Kenelm Digby	226	(1)
A New Year's Gift Sung to King Charles. 1635	227	(2)
`Fair friend,' tis true, your beauties move'	229	(1)
On the King's Birthday	230	(1)
To My L[ord] the King, on the Christening His Second Son James	231	(1)
An Elegy on the Lady Jane Pawlet, Marchion[ess] of Winton	232	(2)
Eupheme	234	(13)
The dedication of her cradle	235	(1)
The song of her descent	236	(1)
The picture of the body	237	(1)
Her mind	238	(2)
Her being chosen a muse
Her fair offices
Her happy match
Her hopeful issue	240	(1)
Her apotheosis, or relation to the saints	241	(6)
Her inscription, or crown	247	(1)
The Praises of a Country Life (Horace, Second Epode)	247	(2)
(Horace). Ode the First. The Fourth Book. To Venus	249	(1)
Ode IX, 3 Book, to Lydia. Dialogue of Horace and Lydia	250	(1)
Fragmentum Petron. Arbitr. The Same Translated	251	(1)
Epigramma Martialis. Lib. VIII. lxxvii. The Same Translated	252	(1)
Miscellaneous Poems	253	(101)
To Thomas Palmer	255	(1)
In Authorem	256	(1)
Author ad Librum	256	(1)
To the Author	257	(1)
To the Worthy Author M[r] John Fletcher	257	(1)
To the Right Noble Tom	258	(1)
To the London Reader	258	(2)
To His Much and Worthily Esteemed Friend the Author	260	(1)
To the Worthy Author on The Husband	260	(1)
To His Friend the Author upon His Richard	261	(1)
To My Truly-Beloved Friend, Mr Browne	261	(1)
To My Worthy and Honoured Friend, Mr George Chapman	262	(1)
On the Author, Work, and Translator	262	(1)
To the Reader	263	(1)
To the Memory of My Beloved, the Author Mr William Shakespeare	263	(3)
From the Touchstone of Truth	266	(1)
To My Chosen Friend	266	(1)
The Vision of Ben Jonson	267	(3)
On the Honoured Poems of His Honoured Friend, Sir John Beaumont, Baronet	270	(1)
To My Worthy Friend, Master Edward Filmer	270	(1)
To My Old Faithful Servant	271	(1)
To Mrs Alice Sutcliffe	271	(1)
To My Dear Son, and Right-Learned Friend, Master Joseph Rutter	272	(1)
`Stay, view this stone: and, if thou beest not such'	273	(1)
A Speech Presented unto King James	273	(1)
To the Most Noble, and above His Titles, Robert, Earl of Somerset	274	(1)
Charles Cavendish to His Posterity	275	(1)
To the Memory of that Most Honoured Lady Jane	275	(1)
Epitaph on Katherine, Lady Ogle	276	(1)
An Epigram to My Jovial Good Friend Mr Robert Dover	277	(1)
Ode Enthusiastic	278	(1)
Ode Allegoric	279	(3)
Ode to Himself	282	(2)
Ode (`If men, and times were now')	284	(1)
`Slow, slow, fresh fount, keep time with my salt tears'	285	(1)
`O, that joy so soon should waste!'	286	(1)
`Thou more than most sweet glove'	286	(1)
`Queen and huntress, chaste, and fair'	287	(1)
`If I freely may discover'	287	(1)
`Swell me a bowl with lusty wine'	288	(1)
`Love is blind, and a wanton'	288	(1)
`Blush, folly, blush: here's none that fears'	289	(1)
`Wake! Our mirth begins to die'	289	(1)
`Fools, they are the only nation'	290	(1)
`Had old Hippocrates, or Galen'	290	(1)
`You that would last long, list to my song'	291	(1)
`Still to be neat, still to be dressed'	291	(1)
`Modest, and fair, for fair and good are near'	292	(1)
`My masters and friends, and good people draw near'	292	(2)
`It was a beauty that I saw	294	(1)
`Though I am young, and cannot tell'	294	(1)
`Sound, sound aloud'	295	(1)
`Daughters of the subtle flood'	296	(1)
`Now Dian, with her burning face'	296	(1)
`When Love at first did move'	297	(1)
`So beauty on the waters stood'	297	(1)
`If all these Cupids now were blind'	297	(1)
`Had those that dwell in error foul'	298	(1)
`Still turn, and imitate the heaven'	298	(1)
`Bid all profane away'	299	(1)
`These, these are they'	299	(1)
`Now, now begin to set'	300	(1)
`Think yet how night doth waste'	300	(1)
`O know to end, as to begin'	301	(1)
Epithalamion (`Glad time is at his point arrived')	301	(4)
Epithalamion (`Up, youths and virgins, up, and praise')	305	(2)
Charm	307	(1)
`Help, help, all tongues to celebrate this wonder'	308	(1)
`Who, Virtue, can thy power forget'	308	(1)
`Buzz, quoth the blue-fly'	308	(1)
`Now, my cunning lady moon'	309	(1)
`Melt earth to sea, sea flow to air'	309	(1)
`The solemn rites are well begun'	310	(1)
`Nay, nay,/You must not stay'	310	(1)
`Nor yet, nor yet, O you in this night blessed'	311	(1)
`Gentle knights'	311	(1)
`O yet how early, and before her time'	312	(1)
`Gentle Love, be not dismayed'	312	(1)
`A crown, a crown for Love's bright head'	312	(1)
`What just excuse had aged Time'	313	(1)
`O how came Love, that is himself a fire'	313	(1)
`This motion was of love begot'	314	(1)
`Have men beheld the graces dance'	314	(1)
`Give end unto the pastimes, Love'	314	(1)
`Bow both your heads at once, and hearts'	315	(1)
`So breaks the sun earth's rugged chains'	315	(1)
`Soft, subtle fire, thou soul of art'	316	(1)
`How young and fresh am I tonight'	316	(1)
`Hum drum, sauce for a cony'	317	(2)
`Nor do you think that their legs is all'	319	(1)
`Break, Fant'sy, from thy cave of cloud'	320	(1)
Hymn	320	(1)
`Come on, come on!'	321	(1)
`It follows now you are to prove'	322	(1)
`An eye of looking back were well'	322	(1)
`Howe'er the brightness may amaze'	323	(1)
`Now look and see in yonder throne'	324	(1)
`From the famous Peak of Derby'	324	(1)
`The fairy beam upon you'	325	(1)
`To the old, long life and treasure'	325	(1)
`Cocklorrel woulds needs have the devil his guest'	326	(2)
Ballad	328	(2)
`Which way and whence the lightning flew'	330	(1)
`Come, noble nymphs, and do not hide'	330	(1)
Euclia's Hymn	331	(1)
`Come forth, come forth, the gentle Spring'	332	(1)
A Song of Welcome to King Charles	333	(1)
A Song of the Moon	334	(1)
Proludium	335	(1)
A Panegyre, on the Happy Entrance of James	335	(5)
(a) Murder; (b) Peace; (c) The Power of Gold	340	(1)
The Phoenix Analysed	341	(1)
Over the Door at the Entrance into the Apollo	341	(1)
An Epistle to a Friend	342	(1)
Here Follow Certain Other Verses	343	(1)
Ben Jonson's Grace before King James	344	(1)
(To Mr Ben Jonson in His Journey, by Mr Craven); This was Ben Jonson's Answer of the Sudden	344	(1)
An Expostulation with Inigo Jones	345	(2)
To Inigo, Marquess Would Be, a Corollary	347	(1)
To a Friend, an Epigram of Him	348	(1)
(To Mr Jonson upon these Verses); To My Detractor	349	(1)
(On The Magnetic Lady); Ben Jonson's Answer	349	(1)
The Garland of the Blessed Virgin Mary	350	(1)
The Reverse on the Back Side	351	(1)
Martial Epigram XLVII, Book X	352	(1)
A Speech out of Lucan	353	(1)
Horace, of the Art of Poetry	354	(127)
Appendix I Timber: or Discoveries	373	(86)
Appendix 2 Conversations with William Drummond	459	(22)
Notes	481	(134)
Index of First Lines	615	(10)
Index of Titles	625