Poetaster (play) - Wikipedia Poetaster (play) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search Play written by Ben Jonson Poetaster is a late Elizabethan satirical comedy written by Ben Jonson that was first performed in 1601. The play formed one element in the back-and-forth exchange between Jonson and his rivals John Marston and Thomas Dekker in the so-called Poetomachia or War of the Theatres of 1599–1601.[1] Poetaster was entered into the Stationers' Register on 21 December 1601, and was first published in quarto in 1602 by the bookseller Matthew Lownes. The title page of the first edition states that the play was performed by the Children of the Chapel, one of the companies of boy actors popular at the time. The play was next published in the first folio collection of Jonson's works (1616). A prefatory note to the folio text identifies the main actors in the 1601 production as Nathan Field, John Underwood, Salomon Pavy, William Ostler, Thomas Day, and Thomas Marton. The quarto and folio texts both supply subtitles, with slight variants: in the quarto, the title is Poetaster or The Arraignment, and in the folio, Poetaster, Or His Arraignment. The principal character in the play is Ovid. It is widely accepted among scholars and critics that the character of Horace in Poetaster represents Jonson himself, while Crispinus, who vomits up a pretentious and bombastic vocabulary, is Marston, and Demetrius Fannius is Dekker. Individual commentators have attempted to identify other characters in the play with historical and literary figures of the era, including George Chapman and Shakespeare — though these arguments have not been accepted by the scholarly consensus.[2] It is generally argued that the play is more than a mere venting of personal spleen against two rivals; rather, Jonson attempted in Poetaster to express his views on "the poet's moral duties in society."[3] The play has been considered "an attempt to combine undramatic, philosophical material on good poets with satire on bad poets."[4] Scholars have also traced out a broad range of particular connections between Poetaster, other Jonson works, and plays by other authors in the first years of the 17th century.[5] The term poetaster, meaning an inferior poet with pretensions to artistic value, had been coined by Erasmus in 1521. It was used by Jonson in 1600 and then popularised with this play a year later. References[edit] ^ James Loxley, The Complete Critical Guide to Ben Jonson. London, Routledge, 2002. ^ E. K. Chambers The Elizabethan Stage, 4 Volumes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1923; Vol. 3, p. 365. ^ Terence P. Logan and Denzell S. Smith, eds., The New Intellectuals: A Survey and Bibliography of Recent Studies in English Renaissance Drama, Lincoln, NE, University of Nebraska Press, 1977; pp. 67-9. ^ Logan and Smith, p. 8. ^ Logan and Smith, pp. 74, 175-6, 221-2, 313. External links[edit] The Poetaster online. v t e Ben Jonson (works) Plays A Tale of a Tub The Case is Altered The Isle of Dogs Every Man in His Humour Every Man out of His Humour Cynthia's Revels Poetaster Sejanus His Fall Eastward Hoe Volpone Epicœne, or The Silent Woman The Alchemist Catiline His Conspiracy Bartholomew Fair The Devil Is an Ass The Staple of News The New Inn The Magnetic Lady Rollo Duke of Normandy The Sad Shepherd Mortimer His Fall (fragment) Masques The Coronation Triumph A Private Entertainment of the King and Queen on May-Day The Entertainment at Althorp The Masque of Blackness Hymenaei The Entertainment of the Kings of Great Britain and Denmark The Masque of Beauty The Masque of Queens The Hue and Cry After Cupid The Entertainment at Britain's Burse The Speeches at Prince Henry's Barriers Oberon, the Faery Prince Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly Love Restored A Challenge at Tilt, at a Marriage The Irish Masque at Court Mercury Vindicated from the Alchemists The Golden Age Restored Christmas, His Masque The Vision of Delight Lovers Made Men Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue For the Honour of Wales News from the New World Discovered in the Moon The Entertainment at Blackfriars Pan's Anniversary The Gypsies Metamorphosed The Masque of Augurs Time Vindicated to Himself and to His Honours Neptune's Triumph for the Return of Albion The Masque of Owls at Kenilworth The Fortunate Isles and Their Union Love's Triumph Through Callipolis Chloridia The King's Entertainment at Welbeck Love's Welcome at Bolsover Poems "On My First Sonne" "To Celia" "To Penshurst" Related Ben Jonson folios English Renaissance theatre Sons of Ben (literary group) Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Poetaster_(play)&oldid=982127636" Categories: Plays by Ben Jonson English Renaissance plays 1601 plays Cultural depictions of Ovid Horace Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version Languages Français Latina Edit links This page was last edited on 6 October 2020, at 09:42 (UTC). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Contact Wikipedia Mobile view Developers Statistics Cookie statement