Ben Jonson

Born in 1572, Ben Jonson became one of the major writers of the English Renaissance. He wrote for the stage as well as the page, and his comedies, poems, and court masques made him a leading literary figure in London.

He is especially remembered for plays such as Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, works admired for their energy, intelligence, and satirical bite. In 1616, he published his Workes, a landmark collection that treated drama as serious literature at a time when plays were not always given that status.

Jonson’s life was as dramatic as his writing: he served as a soldier, spent time in prison, and moved in the same theatrical world as William Shakespeare. By the time of his death in 1637, he had become an influential model for later writers, and his reputation as a brilliant, learned, and often combative man of letters has lasted for centuries.