1. BBL 3103 LITERARY THEORY FROM PLATO TO T. S. ELIOT
DR. IDA BAIZURA BAHAR

2. 03 Ben Jonson ( )

3. Ben Jonson
i. About
Primarily a classicist; not as much as later classicists like John Dryden and Samuel Johnson, but a classicist nonetheless
A reaction against the Romantic tendencies of the Elizabethan age; an attempt to impose order on its chaos
Translated Horace’s Ars Poetica into verse
ii. Nature and function of poetry
Art ranked above other branches of human knowledge because those branches reached their apex within art
Thus it provided one with a how-to guide to live a happy and well-adjusted life
Believed that art can both instruct and delight

4. Ben Jonson iii. The Poet Requirements of a poet:
To have natural or inborn instinct (Nature)
Poet should have the divine within him
To constantly practice and exercise his gift (Exercise)
To perfect the inborn gift
To imitate past models (Imitation)
The poet should be able to assimilate and adapt what he finds good in previous poets’ works
To be widely read (Studies)
So that knowledge is at his disposal
To have ‘art’ or knowledge of poetic technique (Art)
What makes a poet perfect

5. The ancients should function as guides, not commanders
Ben Jonson
iv. The Ancients
The ancients should function as guides, not commanders
With regard to dramatic criticism, the outward forms of the Ancients can be disregarded