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Ben Jonson: A Life
Ben Jonson was the greatest of Shakespeare's contemporaries. His fame rests not only on the numerous plays he had written, but on his achievements over three decades as principal masque-writer to the early Stuart court, where he had worked in creative, if at times stormy, collaboration with Inigo Jones. One of the most accomplished poets of the age, he was--in fact if not in title--the first Poet Laureate in England.
Ian Donaldson's new biography draws on freshly discovered writings by and about Ben Jonson, and locates his work within the social and intellectual contexts of his time. Donaldson depicts a life full of drama. Jonson's early satirical play, The Isle of Dogs , landed him in prison, and brought all theatrical activity in London to a temporary--and very nearly permanent--standstill. He was "almost at the gallows" for killing a fellow actor after a quarrel, and converted to Catholicism while awaiting execution. He supped with the Gunpowder conspirators on the eve of their planned coup at Westminster. After satirizing the Scots in Eastward Ho! he was imprisoned again, and throughout his career was repeatedly interrogated about plays and poems thought to contain seditious or slanderous material. Throughout this lively biography, Donaldson provides the fullest picture available of Jonson's personal, political, spiritual, and intellectual interests, and he insightfully discusses all of Jonson's
major poetry and drama, plus some newly discovered works.
Jonson emerges from this study as a more complex and volatile character than previously depicted, and as a writer whose work strikingly foresees the modern age.
Ian Donaldson's new biography draws on freshly discovered writings by and about Ben Jonson, and locates his work within the social and intellectual contexts of his time. Donaldson depicts a life full of drama. Jonson's early satirical play, The Isle of Dogs , landed him in prison, and brought all theatrical activity in London to a temporary--and very nearly permanent--standstill. He was "almost at the gallows" for killing a fellow actor after a quarrel, and converted to Catholicism while awaiting execution. He supped with the Gunpowder conspirators on the eve of their planned coup at Westminster. After satirizing the Scots in Eastward Ho! he was imprisoned again, and throughout his career was repeatedly interrogated about plays and poems thought to contain seditious or slanderous material. Throughout this lively biography, Donaldson provides the fullest picture available of Jonson's personal, political, spiritual, and intellectual interests, and he insightfully discusses all of Jonson's
major poetry and drama, plus some newly discovered works.
Jonson emerges from this study as a more complex and volatile character than previously depicted, and as a writer whose work strikingly foresees the modern age.
554 pages, Hardcover
First published October 27, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
August 18, 2012
A scholarly biography of Johnson. As General Editor of “The Cambridge edition of the works of Ben Jonson” (7 volumes!) Ian Donaldson’s knowledge of the man’s writing is obviously very very good. One of the intriguing things about the book is the use of recently discovered evidence.
“Why Shakespeare not Jonson?” is one of the great literary critical questions, and not one that gets answered very often. This book doesn’t attempt it in detail. But a related question is that given the paucity of information about Shakespeare’s life, and the abundance of information about Jonson’s, why is there a Shakespeare biography industry recycling the same bits of information and so few if any biographies of Jonson other than this one?
It’s an interesting life: bricklayer’s son, scholar, soldier, jobbing theatre writer, self taught classical pedant, producer of court entertainments, Shakespeare’s main professional rival in the London theatre.
He was imprisoned for writing seditious plays (twice, and the fact it happened twice says something about the man), imprisoned and branded for killing a man in a duel, a Catholic when it was dangerous to be one, possibly friendly with the gunpowder conspirators, possibly working for Cecil as a spy or informer. He left letters. His opinions on various topics, including his friends and rivals, were recorded by Drummond of Hawthornden.
Like the subject of most early modern literary biographies, Jonson feels a bit off stage or certainly not centre stage throughout; there’s a tendency to link the evidence with broader history and the man is in danger of disappearing. Having said that, Donaldson keeps his subject in view and the Jonson who emerges in all his quarrelsome vanity and energy feels more like a man of this time than the ever shadowy Mr. William Shakespeare.
For all this, it’s hard to love Jonson’s plays, and while various poets and writers have been fascinated by his work, his own sense of self importance hasn’t been shared by posterity.
It’s a scholarly biography in the best sense: Donaldson advances cautiously, weighing his evidence, allowing doubt where the can be no certainty. (What was Jonson’s role or his relationship with the Gun Powder plotters? Was he, like Marlowe before him, employed by the Government?) If you want a racy narrative slurring over the holes in the story this isn’t your book. But the fact that Richard Holmes is willing to praise it at length on its dust jacket is a good indication of its quality.
“Why Shakespeare not Jonson?” is one of the great literary critical questions, and not one that gets answered very often. This book doesn’t attempt it in detail. But a related question is that given the paucity of information about Shakespeare’s life, and the abundance of information about Jonson’s, why is there a Shakespeare biography industry recycling the same bits of information and so few if any biographies of Jonson other than this one?
It’s an interesting life: bricklayer’s son, scholar, soldier, jobbing theatre writer, self taught classical pedant, producer of court entertainments, Shakespeare’s main professional rival in the London theatre.
He was imprisoned for writing seditious plays (twice, and the fact it happened twice says something about the man), imprisoned and branded for killing a man in a duel, a Catholic when it was dangerous to be one, possibly friendly with the gunpowder conspirators, possibly working for Cecil as a spy or informer. He left letters. His opinions on various topics, including his friends and rivals, were recorded by Drummond of Hawthornden.
Like the subject of most early modern literary biographies, Jonson feels a bit off stage or certainly not centre stage throughout; there’s a tendency to link the evidence with broader history and the man is in danger of disappearing. Having said that, Donaldson keeps his subject in view and the Jonson who emerges in all his quarrelsome vanity and energy feels more like a man of this time than the ever shadowy Mr. William Shakespeare.
For all this, it’s hard to love Jonson’s plays, and while various poets and writers have been fascinated by his work, his own sense of self importance hasn’t been shared by posterity.
It’s a scholarly biography in the best sense: Donaldson advances cautiously, weighing his evidence, allowing doubt where the can be no certainty. (What was Jonson’s role or his relationship with the Gun Powder plotters? Was he, like Marlowe before him, employed by the Government?) If you want a racy narrative slurring over the holes in the story this isn’t your book. But the fact that Richard Holmes is willing to praise it at length on its dust jacket is a good indication of its quality.
December 18, 2017
Poor wretches! I rather pity their folly and indiscretion, than their loss of time and money; for these may be recovered by industry: but to be a fool born is a disease incurable.
I had harbored such high hopes for this effort. Donaldson isn't blessed with an abundance of source material, primary accounts are existent but oblique. Jonson's own creative output is astonishing yet this 450 pages appeared both muddled and muted. This Life, simply, is just a mess.
We do learned of Jonson's efforts at a scholar, his penchant for neologism: he introduced the word plagiarism into English from the Latin for kidnapping. If only Donaldson had snatched some prose with aplomb. We learn Jonson was from humble stock, his stepfather was a bricklayer. His predilection converse to the family was one for books. He qualified for university and excelled, he then joined the military to sate longings for Adventure and Glory. Self-preservation thankfully soon cured him of that.
As a player in traveling troupe he once killed a man, joining Caravaggio, Leadbelly and Aaron Burr in that endeavor. Jonson fortunately avoided the gallows and converted to Catholicism. This places him in a strange position during the reigns of Elizabeth I and then James I. He became good friends with John Donne, whose religious conversion went the other way. He then wrote some wicked-smart comedies and wrote tons of verse, most of the latter for his friends. Jonson became successful, never appeared to find much love and continues drinking until he was nearly 280 pounds. He turned to serious scholarship full time later in life and was mad friends with Robert Burton: oh, would I love to think all day about those conversations.
While the book did situate Jonson in the religious/political turbulence of the time, it itself was flat and bereft of personality.
I had harbored such high hopes for this effort. Donaldson isn't blessed with an abundance of source material, primary accounts are existent but oblique. Jonson's own creative output is astonishing yet this 450 pages appeared both muddled and muted. This Life, simply, is just a mess.
We do learned of Jonson's efforts at a scholar, his penchant for neologism: he introduced the word plagiarism into English from the Latin for kidnapping. If only Donaldson had snatched some prose with aplomb. We learn Jonson was from humble stock, his stepfather was a bricklayer. His predilection converse to the family was one for books. He qualified for university and excelled, he then joined the military to sate longings for Adventure and Glory. Self-preservation thankfully soon cured him of that.
As a player in traveling troupe he once killed a man, joining Caravaggio, Leadbelly and Aaron Burr in that endeavor. Jonson fortunately avoided the gallows and converted to Catholicism. This places him in a strange position during the reigns of Elizabeth I and then James I. He became good friends with John Donne, whose religious conversion went the other way. He then wrote some wicked-smart comedies and wrote tons of verse, most of the latter for his friends. Jonson became successful, never appeared to find much love and continues drinking until he was nearly 280 pounds. He turned to serious scholarship full time later in life and was mad friends with Robert Burton: oh, would I love to think all day about those conversations.
While the book did situate Jonson in the religious/political turbulence of the time, it itself was flat and bereft of personality.
May 29, 2020
I have always been drawn into a writer whose noble ambition and unswerving individuality are distinct from those of the officialized popularity of famed celebrities simply because of the sheer provocativeness of the author translated into the textual world of reality, which is a reflection of his conceptions by the barrier he establishes proudly and profoundly against those of others. In fact, it is this unapologetic individuality that enables the author to become what he is capable of in protean varieties; an alchemist of words, a high priest of the temple of Apollo, a mortal equivalent of Hercules, a neo-classist of a new renaissance, an independent scholar of the great leaning, and a humanist committed to the Classical principles to contribute to the new capital of the Arts. The hero of the splendid epithets is no less the poet and playwright than Ben Jonson himself, and it is in this superbly told biography Ben Jonson: A Life that his modern disciple Ian Donaldson resurrects the person of Jonson in flesh and spirit vividly.
Ian Donaldson’s Ben Jonson begins with the burial ground of Jonson and then comes alive as Donaldson presents the protagonist Jonson through a phantasmagorical display of the epochal chapters of Jonson’s life as though to be screened for posterity in Immortal Theater of Art. Donaldson’s capacity of screenwriter and director of Ben Jonson’s dramatic life is deprived of blind idolization of Jonson as a suffering lone wolf-typed writer whose brightness was unfairly adumbrated by that of his contemporary peer William Shakespeare, nor is it intent upon accounting the greatness of Jonson over Shakespeare by elucidating the dichotomic feud between the two equally but differently brilliant literary stars in the constellation of Arts. Also, the book rejects the conventional mode of biography in the frame of “cradle to grave” by guiding the reader through specific epochal moments that profoundly influenced Jonson both personally and professionally during one of the most politically and religiously turbulent periods in the history of Great Britain.
Rich in details of the political and social backgrounds of Jonson’s plays and poems in addition to his personal elements that make him stand out among the contemporary literary figures, Donaldson follows the Thucydidean way of examining the history of Jonson in attempt to transcend the subjectivity of the time and popular opinions on Jonson and to balance scholarly objective equilibrium to test the validity of truth about Jonson to the extent possible by holding his express personal opinion on his subject. The result is myriad imaginations and images of Jonson as the reader likes to create, whether it be that of dauntlessly confident Achilles, wisely ambitious Agamemnon, divinely valorous Odysseus, or compassionately passionate Hercules.
Upon reading this book, I saw the images of Rodrigo Mendoza played by Robert De Niro from the excellent film "The Mission" and Ben Jonson as himself springing from my mind’s garden as both of their faces a piece like a great Ancient Greek statue. Both of them are passionately devoted to their causes, unfailingly humane, and admirably courageous in fulfilling their destiny to achieve their noble ambitions for the good of humanity - one for the building of terrestrial heaven governed by deeds according to the Gospel in the case of Fr. Mendoza and the other in the person of Jonson for the reconstruction of British Renaissance based upon classical principles as a stratagem of moral and artistic reform. And behind this fascinating literary witchcraft lays Donaldson's superb biography of Ben Jonson that successfully resurrects the noble and heroic spirit of Ben Jonson whose work is enshrined in the Temple of Divine Arts as a scintillating star of the Humanities. And I am sure that Jonson is so happy with Donaldson's account of his life that he introduces his biographer to the Immortals (including his chum Shakespeare) and that they are having a divine feast with heavenly wine in a constellation of literary stars evermore.
Ian Donaldson’s Ben Jonson begins with the burial ground of Jonson and then comes alive as Donaldson presents the protagonist Jonson through a phantasmagorical display of the epochal chapters of Jonson’s life as though to be screened for posterity in Immortal Theater of Art. Donaldson’s capacity of screenwriter and director of Ben Jonson’s dramatic life is deprived of blind idolization of Jonson as a suffering lone wolf-typed writer whose brightness was unfairly adumbrated by that of his contemporary peer William Shakespeare, nor is it intent upon accounting the greatness of Jonson over Shakespeare by elucidating the dichotomic feud between the two equally but differently brilliant literary stars in the constellation of Arts. Also, the book rejects the conventional mode of biography in the frame of “cradle to grave” by guiding the reader through specific epochal moments that profoundly influenced Jonson both personally and professionally during one of the most politically and religiously turbulent periods in the history of Great Britain.
Rich in details of the political and social backgrounds of Jonson’s plays and poems in addition to his personal elements that make him stand out among the contemporary literary figures, Donaldson follows the Thucydidean way of examining the history of Jonson in attempt to transcend the subjectivity of the time and popular opinions on Jonson and to balance scholarly objective equilibrium to test the validity of truth about Jonson to the extent possible by holding his express personal opinion on his subject. The result is myriad imaginations and images of Jonson as the reader likes to create, whether it be that of dauntlessly confident Achilles, wisely ambitious Agamemnon, divinely valorous Odysseus, or compassionately passionate Hercules.
Upon reading this book, I saw the images of Rodrigo Mendoza played by Robert De Niro from the excellent film "The Mission" and Ben Jonson as himself springing from my mind’s garden as both of their faces a piece like a great Ancient Greek statue. Both of them are passionately devoted to their causes, unfailingly humane, and admirably courageous in fulfilling their destiny to achieve their noble ambitions for the good of humanity - one for the building of terrestrial heaven governed by deeds according to the Gospel in the case of Fr. Mendoza and the other in the person of Jonson for the reconstruction of British Renaissance based upon classical principles as a stratagem of moral and artistic reform. And behind this fascinating literary witchcraft lays Donaldson's superb biography of Ben Jonson that successfully resurrects the noble and heroic spirit of Ben Jonson whose work is enshrined in the Temple of Divine Arts as a scintillating star of the Humanities. And I am sure that Jonson is so happy with Donaldson's account of his life that he introduces his biographer to the Immortals (including his chum Shakespeare) and that they are having a divine feast with heavenly wine in a constellation of literary stars evermore.
February 20, 2018
Where to start? It is amazing how many people have never even heard of him for a start given that he's probably the second greatest poet / writer / playwright we've produced. Maybe as he's not identified with an absolute classic such as Paradise Lost or he's not Shakespeare. His volume of work is incredible but it's not familiar - read a book on Shakespeare and every reference to his work is recognisable. Not the case with Ben. This is a good intro to his works and the sheer quantity and longevity amazed me. His life story is also like a novel. A lot more is known about him than Shakespeare during his life - son of a bricklayer, soldier, killer (manslaughterer), Catholic, Protestant, criminal etc etc but he's a mass of contradictions. His relationship with Queen then King is fascinating. One the one hand he was the 'go to' poet for court masques but in the other he was always wary of the 'wolf's black jaw' - unsurprising when he'd been arrested twice for his works (Isle of Dogs' and 'Eastwood Ho'. The times he lived in were a great backdrop to the book but he was so closely linked to these events such as the Gunpowder Plot (how much did he really know?), that they really come out in his works. He was constantly closer to the knuckle than Will with his works - more obviously talking about contemporary events, but in a way that is testament to him. His personality is still a mystery - in some ways he comes across as disagreeable- a snob, pretentious (for example his relationship with the theatre), but in other ways his friendships were strong and loyal. I could go on but pick it up and read it. Some of the scholarly stuff is above me (Jonson probably would have been very scornful of me), but as a biography cum history of England in the early 17th century - it's a great read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 12, 2017
For over 150 years after his death, Ben Jonson was more popular than Shakespeare. Though Shakespeare could clearly best Jonson in tragedy, Jonson's comedies in particularly were much preferred over Shakespeare's, especially in the Jacobean age. In particular, we have much evidence that King James clearly favored Jonson when he took the throne, so much so that Jonson fawned over him, nearly moving out of the theatre to write court masques exclusively for a time.
Although I liked the first half of this biography more than the second half, much of that is not Donaldson's fault. He avoids the faults of many Renaissance biographers by not dwelling in the minutiae of the interchangeable courtly intrigues, though they play their parts. This biography firmly follows Jonson's narrative, admirably avoiding Shakespeare except where absolutely necessary (their engagement in the same theatrical company, Jonson's contributions to Shakespeare's First Folio, and the posthumous rivalry of their reputations). Indeed, we know far more about Jonson than Shakespeare, much of it fairly scandalous. But this flesh-and-blood, warts and all biography is far more riveting than it would have been in other hands, and that is firm praise for Donaldson. The best biography of Jonson available, and unlikely to be bettered for decades to come.
Although I liked the first half of this biography more than the second half, much of that is not Donaldson's fault. He avoids the faults of many Renaissance biographers by not dwelling in the minutiae of the interchangeable courtly intrigues, though they play their parts. This biography firmly follows Jonson's narrative, admirably avoiding Shakespeare except where absolutely necessary (their engagement in the same theatrical company, Jonson's contributions to Shakespeare's First Folio, and the posthumous rivalry of their reputations). Indeed, we know far more about Jonson than Shakespeare, much of it fairly scandalous. But this flesh-and-blood, warts and all biography is far more riveting than it would have been in other hands, and that is firm praise for Donaldson. The best biography of Jonson available, and unlikely to be bettered for decades to come.
September 2, 2023
i have a slight bias against ben, i think even among the second rankers of shakespeare's time he's near the lower end, but this was an interesting life and i will hopefully attend more to his works with additional understanding
October 25, 2020
A model biography.
This book is a must for all students of the English Stage. Also, hugely insightful for those attuned to hints of artistic process. Great fun to read.
This book is a must for all students of the English Stage. Also, hugely insightful for those attuned to hints of artistic process. Great fun to read.
September 12, 2021
What a life Jonson led!
August 16, 2022
A very un-biased recounting of Jonson's life. Much appreciate it.
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November 4, 2024This was some insightful and interesting stuff
March 20, 2013
I will soon interview the author in my “Talking Books” column, so it would be wrong to give too much away here. Ihope that you will see my comments in SHAKESPEAE NEWSLETTER. In case you do not, most of what bothers me are some relatively unimportant omissions. This is still a fine, fine book, well worth your time and cash. Easily the best Jonson bio for our times.
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March 12, 2012More than a biography of Jonson; Donaldson's work includes descriptions of the lives of many who associated with Jonson.
The life in and times of London and her inhabitants are also discussed.
The life in and times of London and her inhabitants are also discussed.
December 13, 2016
Fine biography of Jonson; good portrait of his era.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews