Books Should Be Free Loyal Books Free Public Domain Audiobooks & eBook Downloads |
|
Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter and Some Poems By: Ben Jonson (1573-1637) |
---|
![]()
DISCOVERIES MADE UPON MEN AND MATTER
AND SOME POEMS
Contents:
Introduction by Henry Morley
Sylva
Timber, or Discoveries ...
Some Poems
To William Camden
On My First Daughter
On My First Son
To Francis Beaumont
Of Life and Death
Inviting a Friend to Supper
Epitaph on Salathiel Pavy
Epitaph on Elizabeth L. H.
Epitaph on the Countess of Pembroke
To the Memory of my Beloved Master William Shakespeare
To Celia
The Triumph of Charis
In the Person of Womankind
Ode
Praeludium
Epode
An Elegy INTRODUCTION Ben Jonson's "Discoveries" are, as he says in the few Latin words
prefixed to them, "A wood Sylva of things and thoughts, in Greek
"[Greek text]" [which has for its first meaning material, but is also applied
peculiarly to kinds of wood, and to a wood], "from the multiplicity
and variety of the material contained in it. For, as we are
commonly used to call the infinite mixed multitude of growing trees
a wood, so the ancients gave the name of Sylvae Timber Trees to
books of theirs in which small works of various and diverse matter
were promiscuously brought together." In this little book we have some of the best thoughts of one of the
most vigorous minds that ever added to the strength of English
literature. The songs added are a part of what Ben Jonson called
his "Underwoods." Ben Jonson was of a north country family from the Annan district
that produced Thomas Carlyle. His father was ruined by religious
persecution in the reign of Mary, became a preacher in Elizabeth's
reign, and died a month before the poet's birth in 1573. Ben
Jonson, therefore, was about nine years younger than Shakespeare,
and he survived Shakespeare about twenty one years, dying in August,
1637. Next to Shakespeare Ben Jonson was, in his own different way,
the man of most mark in the story of the English drama. His mother,
left poor, married again. Her second husband was a bricklayer, or
small builder, and they lived for a time near Charing Cross in
Hartshorn Lane. Ben Jonson was taught at the parish school of St.
Martin's till he was discovered by William Camden, the historian.
Camden was then second master in Westminster School. He procured
for young Ben an admission into his school, and there laid firm
foundations for that scholarship which the poet extended afterwards
by private study until his learning grew to be sworn brother to his
wit. Ben Jonson began the world poor. He worked for a very short time in
his step father's business. He volunteered to the wars in the Low
Countries. He came home again, and joined the players. Before the
end of Elizabeth's reign he had written three or four plays, in
which he showed a young and ardent zeal for setting the world to
rights, together with that high sense of the poet's calling which
put lasting force into his work. He poured contempt on those who
frittered life away. He urged on the poetasters and the mincing
courtiers, who set their hearts on top knots and affected movements
of their lips and legs:
"That these vain joys in which their wills consume
Such powers of wit and soul as are of force
To raise their beings to eternity,
May be converted on works fitting men;
And for the practice of a forced look,
An antic gesture, or a fustian phrase,
Study the native frame of a true heart,
An inward comeliness of bounty, knowledge,
And spirit that may conform them actually
To God's high figures, which they have in power."
Ben Jonson's genius was producing its best work in the earlier years
of the reign of James I. His Volpone, the Silent Woman, and the
Alchemist first appeared side by side with some of the ripest works
of Shakespeare in the years from 1605 to 1610. In the latter part
of James's reign he produced masques for the Court, and turned with
distaste from the public stage... Continue reading book >>
|
This book is in genre |
---|
Literature |
eBook links |
---|
Wikipedia – Ben Jonson |
Wikipedia – Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter and Some Poems |
eBook Downloads | |
---|---|
ePUB eBook • iBooks for iPhone and iPad • Nook • Sony Reader |
Kindle eBook • Mobi file format for Kindle |
Read eBook • Load eBook in browser |
Text File eBook • Computers • Windows • Mac |
Review this book |
---|