Week 8 Entry - Ben Jonson's Ode to Shakespeare
Ben Jonson's Ode to Shakespeare
J Ben Jonson’s ode to Shakespeare as I like to call it, I remember that we were speaking about this in the discussions and something that we thought of was that they maybe had a more than business like relationship.
J But after looking at the poem more closely in tuts and lectures I can now say that I think that Jonson was actually in awe of Shakespeare and what he did as a poet, and script writer.
J I think that if I were writing in the time of Shakespeare and had to compete against him I would be pretty in awe and overwhelmed to be working in the same theatre as the great man himself.
J Ben Jonson’s ode to Shakespeare refers to the book in which Shakespeare’s work was first published and that the fact being that because it was published in this book makes it more certain that Shakespeare will remain as popular and as studied as it was over 200 years ago.
J I was thinking that this is so true because we study Shakespeare for most of our higher schooling life and sometimes outside of that. We watch movies based on his plays like ‘She’s the Man’, ‘Much Ado About Nothing’, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ , ‘Macbeth’ and many more. We watch these with as much interest and open awe that it’s like watching it on stage.
J He also compares Shakespeare to the Gods of Rome and Greece. He basically compares them to the gods because he sees Shakespeare as a God in his eyes, through his eyes Shakespeare is so great and one to learn greatness from!
J From studying this piece of poetry one cannot really understand how great Shakespeare was because we didn’t live in that age! (What a shame, I would have loved to see Shakespeare in action or even know him personally!).
J I like Ben Jonson am in awe of Shakespeare’s greatness, I don’t think that my poetry will ever be as successful or live on 200 years after my death…..
J But here is hoping!
