In the following essay, Barton explores the links between real life and dramatic representation in Jonson's comical satires, suggesting that Jonson's satirical works were influenced by his stormy relationship with Marston, and noting the dangers of Jonson's efforts to satirize members of his own audience.

In the following excerpt, Kernan focuses on Jonson's "comicall satyres," showing how the satirical and ironic modes are played out in the theme of alchemy and in the gulf between Renaissance aspiration and human limitation. Jonson, Kernan contends, "set the pattern for comical satire for a generation to come."

In the essay below, Jackson explores the relation between dramatic art and moral judgment in Jonson's plays. Jackson focuses on the theme of nobility and the recurrence of money symbolism to reveal the rhetorical character of Jonson's dramaturgy.

In the following essay, Evans examines the impact of patronage on Jonson's dramatic work, detecting in the plays Jonson's strategic self-advertisement and dramatic self-portraiture, as well as evidence of Jacobean London's system of power, hierarchy, and social advancement.

In the following essay, Inglis investigates Jonson's love, religious, and social poetry in relation to the facts of the poet's life.

In the following essay, Friedberg analyzes Jonson's poems in terms of the classical literary tradition.

In the following excerpt, Bamborough examines the stylistic, thematic, and idiosyncratic qualities of Jonson's poetry.

In the following essay, Marotti reads Jonson's dramatic verse and masques along with his non-dramatic poetry in order to demonstrate the poet's stylistic virtuosity and his range between the extremes of copiousness and restraint.

In the following essay, MacLean discusses Jonson 's poems as observations on civilized society, stressing friendship between good men, the ideal relationship between prince and poet, and the social actions befitting the ruling class.

In the following essay, Maus explores the relationship between genre and economics in Jonson's work, suggesting that the "satiric economy" of the plays is absent from the allegorical masques and the idealistic poems of praise.

In the following essay, Greene claims that all of Jonson 's work is organized around two images: the circle, which implies harmony and equilibrium, and a center, which suggests the ruler or solitary independence. Greene traces how the use of these symbols differs in the masques, poems, and plays.

In the following essay, Mebane explores an apparent contradiction between Jonson's conservative neoclassicism, as outlined in Discoveries, and his frequent use of "occult philosophy, " allegory, and symbolism in the masques. Mebane sees Jonson negotiating between prior occult traditions and the growing restraint and rationalism of Baconian science.

In the following essay, Walton characterizes Jonson's poetry as a model of civility, exhibiting both its intellectual and moral values.

In the following essay, Parfitt interprets Jonson's poems in light of the chief functions of his best verse, "energy, assuredness, and rhythmical alertness, " contrasting their tendency to simplify and exaggerate.

In the following essay, Evans contends that the poetry Jonson wrote within the patronage system was as psychologically necessary as it was financially enabling.

In the following excerpt, Summers and Pebworth describe Jonson as a varied poet, viewing his idealism as the link between his neo-classical tendencies and his emotionalism.