Delaney, Joseph Gerard Paul

2019-02-15T14:17:57Z

2019-02-15T14:17:57Z

1973

Jonson'a definition and discussion of poetry emphasised that poetry was an imitation of life. There were several aspects to this. Poetry was for Jonson, as for Sidney, the initiation of a higher realism, but he, unlike Sidney, thought that this must be presented in terns of and with the appearance of real life. Jonson required a more realistic and objective imitation than Sidney, who had emphasised the poet's imaginative freedom. Among his requirements for the poet, Jonson also stressed the importance of study. He did, nevertheless, admit the prior necessity of ability and of training, and the importance of inspiration for perceiving and presenting the Truth. His idea of study was taken partly from Horace, but largely from Cicero and Quintilian. Cicero had required the orator to have a knowledge of all important subjects and arts; and Quintilian, that he i*t least be acquainted with his subject; Jonson's requirement for the poet conflates both of these. Though poetry had an ancient association with learning, it was not factual information but a true understanding of life which the poet must convey; all his study was directed to discovering and promoting the best manner of life. Since the poet must teach the good life, be must also be a good man. He must, in fact, be good, learned, and skilled in hie art. And it was his art which utilized his ability, his learning, and his skills to the best advantage. Jonson turned to the past for his standards at a time when the Classics were regarded as the highest literary achievement. His point of view was typical of the Renaissance, but the assurance and the purposefulness with which he drew from the past was a promise of neo-classicism. He searched there for Truth and Wisdom, and took thence, particularly from the Stoics, his ideal of man. He also sought models of expression, but he transformed what he took and made, for example, the classical into the English epigram. What was taken from the past was used for the present. The past often became a standard, and Jonson used historical and mythographical figures to convey his coral and literary ideals, and to be sure the achievement of the present. His use of the past did not, however, imply that it could not be surpassed, for, under the Influence of Vives and Bacon, he clearly believed in the possibility of progress. Jonson's poems to friends and associates present a 'picture', an image of his ethical and literary ideals. They often define an ideal of character and its relationship to literature and society; the epigram permitted Jonson to express this with brevity, clarity, and conciseness. Poems to great poets and scholars, such as Donne and Selden, are the occasion for reflections on humanistic values concerning the importance of character in the search for Truth, the need to achieve a true understanding of life and of the past, and the significance of friendship in the social order. Jonson's patrons also receive verses which are a celebration of his values. A poem to Lady Bedford shows how he envisaged life in terms of his ideals; a poem to Pembroke, that he saw some special affinity between the *picture* and the epigram. Jonson relationship with the Sidneys, the most brilliant and accomplished patrons of the age, led him to praise and compliment various member, of the family, but always in terms of their common humanistic values. The great public figures of the age are likewise envisaged in terms of Jonson's values, though always on the basis of their real accomplishments. They represent an ideal of the soldier and of the statesman. The poems to contemporaries depict faithfully the life of their subjects and also hint at contemporary issues; they show that Jonson exercised discernment in his choice of people to praise, and of qualities to praise in them. Yet, he himself admitted to having praised unworthy men. Those, however, who might have been regarded as unworthy are praised for genuine qualities and achievements; Jonson gives an estimate of them which was valid at the time of composition. Jonson integrated many elements into his poetry: praise and instruction, the person and the 'pictura', moral and factual truth, the universal principle and the particular example. The poetry which dates from after 1616 shows changes from the earlier practice, Jonson ceased to define a 'pictura' and turned to more particular subjects. He also abandoned the epigram for genres which allow longer and more expansive treatment; the development of his mode of lamenting death and of praising fellow poets shows this development. His praise combined the old values and discernment with the new ideal of the virtuoso, but with a faltering confidence in the value of human effort and poetry. Jonson's belief that poetry should 'express' the life of man led him not only to imitate contemporary manners but to reflect the social and intellectual currents of the age, both of which he employed in hie attempt to make life understood.

http://hdl.handle.net/1842/33640

The University of Edinburgh

Annexe Thesis Digitisation Project 2019 Block 22

Ben Jonson's poetic and moral ideals: with particular reference to the complimentary poems

A study of Ben Jonson's poetic and moral ideals: with particular reference to the complimentary poems

Thesis or Dissertation

Doctoral

PhD Doctor of Philosophy