Jonson
Volpone's Elizabethan creator
Ben Jonson was an English playwright and poet of the early 17th century, a contemporary and rival of Shakespeare.
His comedies—*Volpone*, *The Alchemist*, *Bartholomew Fair*—are still performed.
Jonson pioneered the comedy of humors, building characters around dominant traits.
The spelling distinguishes him from the common surname Johnson.
Author of stage dramas
- theatreArt of staged performance
- comedyWork meant to amuse
- tragedyDisastrous or sorrowful event
- masqueCourtly theatrical entertainment
stage · satire · humours · script · performance · dialogue · characterization · plot
Elizabethan dramatist and poet
- GlobeFamous Elizabethan theatre
- BlackfriarsHistoric London district
- folioSingle-fold page format
- quartoFour-leaf printing format
Tudor · Stuart · King James · Renaissance · courtier · patronage · Inigo Jones · masque
playwright
Author of stage dramas
masque · stage · satire · humours · script · performance · dialogue · characterization · plot · monologue
Shakespeare
Elizabethan dramatist and poet
- GlobeFamous Elizabethan theatre
- BlackfriarsHistoric London district
- folioSingle-fold page format
quarto · Tudor · Stuart · King James · Renaissance · courtier · patronage · Inigo Jones · masque · revels
satire
Mockery exposing vice
neoclassicism · didactic · moral · critique · prose · commonplace · erudition · learning · pedantry · influence
verse
Metered poetic passage
meter · rhyme · lyric · elegy · stanza · diction · cadence · eulogy · epitaph · panegyric
JonsonShakespeare
Elizabethan dramatist and poet
romantic drama · tragicomedy · fantasy · imaginative freedom
Jonsonromantic comedy
Humorous love story genre
warmth · celebration · lightheartedness · gentle humor · seriousness