Ben Jonson: Poetry and Architecture (Oxford English Monographs)

Although Ben Jonson's association with architecture is well known, comparatively little research has been devoted to the influence of architectural thinking on his literary work. This book sets out to explore the possibilities suggested by such an interrelationship. Using annotated architectural volumes surviving from Jonson's library as well as his published works, Anthony Johnson surveys the evidence for Jonson's knowledge of, and theoretical agreement with, the architectural principles enunciated in the De architectura libri decem of the Roman architect, Vitruvius. This original and ambitious study argues that Jonson employed a form of literary Vitruvianism which was a potent force in the shaping of the early masques of his Catholic period, and was to remain an active influence on poetic composition throughout the succeeding century.