What did Ben Jonson say about Shakespeare?

Answer 1

Ben Jonson was an important figure in the London theatre scene at the same time as Shakespeare. Shakespeare played in a couple of Jonson's plays. Jonson for his part wrote some congratulatory verse for the First Folio when it was published in 1623.

There is an old story that Shakespeare died from a fever contracted when getting drunk with Jonson. This is just gossip, of course.

Answer 2

He called him "Soul of an age, the applause, delight, the wonder of our stage!" Also, "Sweet swan of Avon". Ben Johnson loved Shakespeare and had great respect for him as a poet unmatched in history. Famously he said that Shakespeare was "not for an age, but for all time".

Answer 3

Ben Jonson (no "H") was a playwright and friend of Shakespeare's. Shakespeare was one of the actors who played in Jonson's plays Sejanus and Every Man in His Humour. Jonson, for his part, wrote a number of congratulatory pieces about Shakespeare which appeared in the First Folio.

Answer 4

You mean Ben Jonson, the playwright, right? There is no "h" in his name. Jonson wrote some very nice things about Shakespeare as part of the First Folio, the collected volume of Shakespeare's plays which was printed in 1623.

Answer 5

Shakespeare died in April 1616, but Jonson lived for 21 years more until August 1637. However, there was a decline in his career which coincided with, but was in no way caused by, Shakespeare's death. Jonson only wrote three complete plays after 1616 and they were not successful. He did write a number of masques, about a dozen, until 1625, when he was less popular on the acession of the new king. He wrote 4 more masques for the new court in the 1630s. Later in life he also wrote poetry and translations.

Answer 6

Jonson actually only wrote about Shakespeare once, in his commendatory verses in the First Folio (1623). In the course of these verses he calls Shakespeare "not of an age, but for all time." That is the most memorable line from the poem, unless it is the bit that says that Shakespeare had "small Latin and less Greeke".

Answer 7

He described him as a talented man, who came up with amazing plays.

Answer 8

He apparently played in both "Every Man in His Humour" and "Sejanus".

Answer 9

Jonson had a number of things to say about Shakespeare. Most famously he said that Shakespeare never blotted a line and that he had small Latin and less Greek.