Perkins is a professor of American and English literature and film. In this essay, she examines Jonson's craftsmanship and the way he reworked borrowed material in the poem.

In “Jonson's Poetry, Prose and Criticism,” J. B. Bamborough writes that while Jonson placed a high value on poetry, he regarded it as “essentially an Art, rather than as the expression of personality or a way of conveying a unique perception of Truth. Skill was the quality most inescapably demanded of the poet.” Bamborough says that Jonson makes this point when he writes “For to Nature, Exercise. Imitation, and Studie, Art must be added, to make all these perfect.” Jonson's neoclassical position states that writing well necessitates first mastering the subject and then examining how other writers have expressed it. Thus, according to Bamborough, “Originality and Inspiration, as the Romantics understood them, do not, or need not, enter into...