1st Edition
The Women of Ben Jonson's Poetry Female Representations in the Non-Dramatic Verse
By Barbara Smith
Copyright 1995
144 Pages
by
Routledge
144 Pages
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
Ben Jonson (1572-1637) is recognised as one of the major poets and dramatists of his time. It is surprising, therefore, that this should be the first study to look specifically at the role of women in his poetry. Barbara Smith challenges previously held conceptions of Jonson as a misogynist, upholding the patronage system that allowed him to work. Through detailed examination of his poetic... Read more
Contents: Acknowledgements; Introduction; The Praiser: Subject/Object identification; Author/Persona relationship; Motivation: Patrons' Lives: Lucy, Countess of Bedford; Lady Mary Wroth; Blame: Jonson and Juvenal; Jonson and Martial; Jonson and Horace; Satire and Women; Conclusion; Bibliography.
Biography
Barbara Smith
’This book is a welcome contribution to gender studies.’ Parergon ’Smith's book is clear, concise, and well structured...a whole new perspective on his strategy for satisfying his patrons without compromising his integrity.’ Janine Gerzanics, The Sixteenth Century Journal ’Smith’s study is extremely timely and will serve a variety of purposes. In addition to broadening the scope of current scholarship devoted to Jonson and the women he memorialized, it will also provide those undergraduates quick to condemn Jonson as thoroughly sycophantic with an accessible introduction to the epideictic mode.’ Ben Jonson Journal ’... well worth reading. It offers careful readings of many of Jonson's poems to women patrons and a well-supported argument that Jonson's treatment of women in his poetry is different in interesting ways from his treatment of men.’ The Shakespeare Newsletter
