Ben Johnson's biography and works:
1. **What was Ben Jonson's full name?** Benjamin Jonson
2. In what year was Ben Jonson born? **1572**
3. In what city was Ben Jonson born? **Westminster, London**
4. What was Ben Jonson's father's profession? **A minister or cleric**
5. Did Ben Jonson attend university? **No, he had little formal education**
6. What was one of Ben Jonson's early professions?** A bricklayer**
7. When did Ben Jonson begin his career as a playwright? **Around 1598**
8. What was one of Ben Jonson's earliest plays? **Every Man in His Humour**
9. What style of comedy did Jonson help pioneer with Every Man in His Humour?** Humorous, witty comedy that made fun of humours or temperaments**
10. What was a notable feature of Jonson's comedies?** His presentation of realistic characters with individual humours or personalities**
11. For what court was Ben Jonson appointed Poet Laureate? **The court of James I**
12. What famous play by Jonson featured archetypal characters like Volpone and Mosca? **Volpone**
13. What genre is Volpone generally considered? **Satire**
14. What was unusual about the structure of Volpone?** It was written entirely in prose, unlike most plays of the time which used verse**
15. What was the theme or message of Volpone?** It satirized greed and lust for money and possessions**
16. What was another notable satire Jonson wrote?** Epicoene, or The Silent Woman**
17. What ancient Roman writer was a major influence on Jonson's satirical style?** Horace**
18. What was the name of Jonson's country house? **The Hale**
19. With whom did Jonson found the short-lived "Tribe of Ben?" **John Donne and other poets and scholars**
20. What was the purpose of the "Tribe of Ben?" **To promote Virgilian and Horatian styles of poetry and avoid the contemporaneous and ornamented styles**
21. What was a famous quarrel Jonson engaged in?** His quarrel with John Marston after the production of Eastward Ho**
22. What incident led to Ben Jonson's first imprisonment?** He killed an actor named Gabriel Spenser in a duel**
23. How long was Jonson's prison sentence? **A few months**
24. What event plunged England into a brief period of Puritan rule during Jonson's lifetime?** The English Civil War**
25. During the Puritan rule, what did Jonson do?** He went into self-imposed exile in northern England for a time**
26. What was the name of Jonson's wife?** Anne Lewis**
27. Did Jonson and Anne have any children?** Yes, they had one son named Benjamin who died young**
28. When and where did Anne Lewis Jonson die?** She died giving birth to their son in 1597**
29. Did Jonson remarry?** No, he remained unmarried after Anne's death**
30. What notable country house and estate was Jonson a regular visitor to?** The estate of Sir Robert Townshend in Norfolk**
31. What close friend did Jonson enjoy an intellectual partnership with? **William Drummond of Hawthornden**
32. What Scottish poet befriended Jonson and recorded conversations in which Jonson discussed his life and works?** William Drummond of Hawthornden**
33. According to Drummond's notes, what did Jonson remark about his own works?** That his plays would be read when his contemporaries' wouldn't**
34. What were Jonson's religious views?** Likely deistic or agnostic rather than strictly Protestant or Catholic**
35. In what year did Ben Jonson die?** 1637**
36. Where did Jonson die?** In Westminster, London**
37. Where was Jonson originally buried?** Westminster Abbey**
38. Where is Jonson's memorial stone located?** The nave of Westminster Abbey**
39. What famous work did Jonson leave unfinished at his death?** His masque of Time Vindicated**
40. What style did Jonson help establish as a form of courtly entertainment?** Masques**
41. Who designed the sets and costumes for some of Jonson's early masques?** Inigo Jones**
42. Along with Inigo Jones, what other artist did Jonson frequently collaborate with?** Robert Johnson, the dances**
43. What were some typical elements of Jonson's masques?** Mythological or allegorical themes, lavish sets/costumes, participation of royalty and nobility**
44. Did Jonson ever directly address the monarchy in his masques?** Yes, the masques frequently flattered the royal patrons through their content**
45. At his death, Jonson left many unpublished manuscripts. What happened to them?** His papers were subsequently lost**
46. What were some recurrent rhetorical devices and styles frequently used in Jonson's works?** Classsical allusions, witty dialogues, learned or bookish humor**
47. In his comedies, how did Jonson often structure his dramatic action?** Carefully engineered plotlines with interweaving strands of intrigue**
48. Jonson critiqued what contemporary dramatist in his introductions and notes?** William Shakespeare**
49. How would you describe Jonson's relationship to Shakespeare?** Competitive and rivalrous, though he clearly respected Shakespeare's genius**
50. What theory circulated that Shakespeare helped Jonson get out of jail in 1598?** This theory still lacks strong evidence**
51. What classical or renaissance authors and thinkers influenced Jonson's humanist scholarship?** Horace, Ovid, Aristotle, Cicero, Erasmus**
52. What literary style from the Augustan period came to fruition in Jonson's works?** Neoclassicism emphasizing reason, order and decorum
53. What influential poet praised Jonson's verse in his ensuing generations?** John Dryden regularly praised Jonson's poetic skill**
54. What was unique about Jonson's use of scansion or meter?** He was one of the first English poets to strictly follow quantitative meters like classical verse**
55. In what ways were Jonson's classical influences most evident?** His stylistic precision, use of formal poetic and dramatic structures, reliance on rhetoric and reason**
56. How would you characterize Jonson's poetic style and subject matter in his non-dramatic works?** Often celebratory, learned and satirical in content while metrically and stylistically intricate**
57. What was a notable poetic work by Jonson displaying his scholarly abilities?** His translations or imitations of works like the Odes of Horace**
58. According to the notes of William Drummond, what theory did Jonson controversially posit about Shakespeare?** That Shakespeare lacked learning and had poor Latin and Greek**
59. Some modern critics argue the Drummond notes misrepresent Jonson's true views. What might have been his actual high opinion of Shakespeare?** That Shakespeare was a dramatic genius of unparalleled creative powers**
60. In what way can Jonson be seen as a central figure bridging Elizabethan and Restoration eras?** His works embodied the transition from the inventive, improvisatory Elizabethan style to neoclassical order and reason**
61. What literary award in the UK is named in honor of Ben Jonson?** The Benjamin Britten award**
62. Jonson's works frequently portray what characteristic of humans?** Their vices, follies and hypocrisies through satire and comedy**
63. What is believed to have been Jonson's personal religious orientation?** A deism or Latitudinarianism emphasizing morality over strict doctrine**
64. In which centuries did Jonson's reputation diminish somewhat?** The 18th and 19th centuries when neoclassical ideals declined**
65. In which century was Jonson's reputation restored?** The 20th century with revived interest in English Renaissance works**
66. With whom did Jonson share rich antiquarian and scholarly interests?** Inigo Jones and other members of his inner circle**
67. What was a notable patron of Jonson that enabled many of his masques?** The Earl of Salisbury**
68. Where is Jonson interred?** The south wall of Westminster Abbey**
69. What was a posthumous collection of Jonson's works published in 1616?** The Workes of Beniamin Ionson**
70. Which play by Jonson is seen as a response to anti-Scottish sentiments in Eastward Ho?** The Scottish Play**
71. What is a famous literary quarrel Jonson was involved in?** His poetical feud with John Marston and others in the war of the theaters**
72. The type of philosophical poetry Jonson championed came to fruition in later English poets like** Alexander Pope **
73. Jonson likely held what religious or philosophical views that were relatively open-minded for his era?** Latitudinarian or Erasmian views embracing natural theology**
74. Jonson's classically-inspired works influenced later neoclassical English writers such as** John Dryden and Alexander Pope **
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