Timber: Or Discoveries Made Upon Men And Matter

by Ben Jonson, Felix Emmanuel Schelling (Editor)

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

204 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1898

About the author

Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems. A man of vast reading and a seemingly insatiable appetite for controversy, Jonson had an unparalleled breadth of influence on Jacobean and Caroline playwrights and poets. A house in Dulwich College is named after him.

See more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Jonson

Reviews

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is essentially Jonson's commonplace book; for the most part, he records pithy aphorisms and sometimes expands upon them. I enjoyed his thoughts on Shakespeare and theater in general, though he does reveal himself to be a bit hypocritical.

2 stars is a bit harsh, and that's mostly because the edition I read didn't have any notes or any translations of the Latin. And Jonson likes to show off and use lots of Latin. Timber hasn't received a lot of scholarly attention, but obviously a newer edition would still be significantly better.

[Lisajean · Rating 2 out of 5]

No discoveries here.

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

It would be wrong to say, at any rate, that Ben Jonson was a full-fledged critic. We do not get in his notes any methodical attempt at practical criticism. The tome under review is a writer's notebook which served his own purpose and where the writer put down wholeheartedly his likes and dislikes. Truthfully, the very nature of the work is revealed in its copious title 'Timber: or Discoveries, Made upon Men and Matter’, as they have flowed out of his daily reading or had their reflux to his peculiar notion of the times.

As the title suggests, the work is a stock book of recognized classical ideas collected and translated somewhat at random, by practising man of letters for purposes..........several sections, the most his several continuously developed and the most directly concerned with literature, have somewhat the look of lecture notes........ Modern scholarship has discovered classical and Renaissance sources for about four-fifths of the material which makes up Jonson's Timber.' (Brooks & Wimsatt).

Jonson has jotted his intimate observations on Tragedy, Comedy and Poetry. These may not be Jonson's, but we may have good reasons to believe that he entertained these ideas.

At any rate, here we have a good compilation of classical and Renaissance doctrine reduced to pithy Senecan English that "ready writing makes not good writing, but good writing brings on ready writing"; that poetry (poesis) requires not only "goodness of natural wit" but "exercise, "imitation", "study", and "art" etc."

This tome relates to the spirit of the age in two ways both through precept, and very conspicuously through example. The borrowed and translated remains of Jonson's Timber exhibit as much care, force, and accuracy of style as if they had been his own most preciously individual thoughts. Literary work was not principally personal expression but objective imitation, either of nature straight or of nature through the model.

And the use of models entailed their integration and invited their improvement as Horace saith but to draw forth out of the best, and choicest flowers, with the Bee, and turned all into Honey."

One of the most stimulating parts of Timber, is Jonson's comment on Shakespeare. Jonson says that this part was modelled on Seneca's observations on Haterius. Jonson, however, shows how nearly even imitation could be made to serve the needs of a personal assessment. Jonson appreciates Shakespeare's "Phantasie". but at the same time says that Shakespeare was liked for the wrong things. "Shakespeare never blotted out line" he says and comments "would he had blotted a thousand'. Jonson, the votary of classicism and 'imitation' could not accept the easy, flowing phrases of Shakespeare. Jonson by his comments on Shakespeare reveals a facet of himself.

Jonson is the first English man of letters to unveil a nearly comprehensive and consistent neo-classicism. His historical importance is that he throws out a forceful announcement of the rule from which in the next generation, Dryden, is to be engaged in politely rationalised recessions.

A most recommended book for students and scholars of literary criticism.

[Oliver Bateman · Rating 5 out of 5]

an at-times-insight but fairly tedious little commonplace book. a few choice bits worth lifting - that's the point of such books, after all, given that ben has already done the lifting! - and the poems found in my version weren't bad, either (particularly one about the death of his kiddo).

[sologdin · Rating 3 out of 5]

ben Jonson's opinions on other writers. a useful English renaissance source, but also witty, &c.