Ben Jonson and the Cavalier Poets; Authoritative Texts, Criticism (A Norton Critical Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Authoritative, indeed!
Review: This volume claims to have the authoritative texts of poems by Ben Jonson and his followers (including Richard Corbett, Robert Herrick, Thomas Carew, Thomas Randolph, and Edmund Waller, among others). This claim is certainly a fair one. Also incuded are wonderful, relevant critical essays, some of them modern, some written by Jonson and his contemporaries. The essays and the variety of poets give this edition a feeling of completness; it is very good to have one poet's work right next to the responses of other poets to said work.

The poetry itself, of course, is wonderful. During their lives, Jonson's work was thought to rival that of Shakespeare. These comparaisons are perhaps eaiser to understand when reading Jonson's still-easily-accessible poetry than when reading his plays.

This volume is essential to any reader of Jonson.