Resources for Ben Jonson

General Resources

• Luminarium:  Ben Jonson (1572-1637):  The best starting point for the study of Jonson on the web.  Includes a short biography, access to a large selection of Jonson's works, a collection of essays and articles, and more.  (Luminarium)

Back to top

Texts

• The Works of Ben Jonson:  Includes links to extensive selections from the poetry and prose, as well as to most of the plays and masques.  (Luminarium)
• Selected Poetry and Prose of Ben Jonson:  Includes about 20 poems and the text of Timber (or Discoveries), a commonplace book of sorts.  (U. of Toronto)

Back to top

Background

• Encarta:  Ben Jonson:  A good brief biography of Jonson.  (Microsoft Encarta)
• Ben Jonson (1572-1637):  A very brief biography of Jonson.  (Lawrence Danson, Princeton U.)
• The Alchemy Web Site and Virtual Library:  Covers "alchemy in all its facets."  Includes "over 1700 images, over 200 complete alchemical texts, extensive bibliographical material on the printed books and manuscripts, numerous articles, introductory and general reference material on alchemy." 
• The Four Humours:  A clear, brief account of the theory of "humours" as they governed human personality.  [Actually from a Chaucer page, but applicable to Jonson as well.]  (Michael Hanly, Washington State U.)

Back to top

Interpretation and Commentary

• Ian Donaldson, "Clockwork Comedy: Time and The Alchemist" :  A closely reasoned discussion of the role of time in the structure and the theme of The Alchemist.  (U. of Glasgow)
• David Hurley, Magi Imaginations:  Imagining Alchemists and Magicians in New Atlantis, The Tempest, and  The Alchemist:  A discussion of Bacon's, Shakespeare's, and Jonson's attitudes toward and portrayals of alchemists and the occult arts.
• T. S. Eliot, "Ben Jonson":  Essay from The Sacred Wood, 1922.  (Project Bartleby)
• Critics' Gallery:  The Alchemist:  Brief analytical comments from Charles Kingsley (1856) and Harry Levin (1938).  (Lawrence Danson, Princeton U.)
• Jonson's Humours:  A brief account of the "comedy of humours," with comments from Coleridge and Eliot.  (Lawrence Danson, Princeton U.)
• Jonson and Alchemy:  A brief sketch of the place of alchemists and alchemical knowledge in The Alchemist.  (Lawrence Danson, Princeton U.)
• The Alchemy of Human Relations in Ben Jonson's The Alchemist and Discussion:  A class assignment and student responses to it.  An interesting starting point for discussing characters in The Alchemist.  (Christy Desmet, U. of Georgia)
• The Alchemist:  Student Presentations:  Two brief student responses to The Alchemist, focusing on the use of alchemy as a metaphor and on moral accountability.  (Lawrence Danson, Princeton U.)
• Essays on Early 17th Century English Literature:  Jonson:  More articles on Jonson, most of them not specifically concerned with The Alchemist.  Includes several student essays.  (Luminarium)

Back to top

Images

• Portrait of Jonson:  The Vaughan portrait.  (Luminarium)
• Jonson Manuscript:  Autograph manuscript of "Ode to the Earl of Desmond," ca. 1600.  (Luminarium)
• Ben Jonson, Masque of Blackness and Masque of Oberon:  A slide show of costumes, set designs, etc. from two of Jonson's masques.  (Christy Desmet, U. of Georgia)