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Article: Jonson, Ben (1572–1637)
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
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JONSON, BEN (1572
–
1637)
JONSON, BEN
(1572
–
1637), English playwright and poet. A highly influential dramatist of Jacobean London and the court of his day, Jonson was a colorful character of early theater history. His plays communicate much about the vicissitudes of life for those who shared the playwright's time and place. Jonson's father was a clergyman; his death a month before Jonson's birth was to affect the play-wright's early life, for Jonson's mother soon married a master bricklayer, Robert Brett. Jonson was educated at Westminster School, where the antiquary William Camden, who was the master, became his intellectual inspiration. It is not certain, however, how ...