And why to me this, thou lame Lord of fire,
What had I done that might call on thine ire?
The speaker in this particular case is unquestionably Jonson himself. Jonson goes after the Roman god of fire with a vengeance by presenting a litany of the destructive forces of fire which took from the world in all or in part like London’s Globe Theater. He also provides some speculation on what might have prompted Vulcan to rain fire down upon Troy. The ultimate effect is to question why some things which should be burnt remain untouched by Vulcan’s art while that which the world would never miss avoids the fate of becoming mere ashes. The two lines quoted are those which open the poem and they are an emotional call to Vulcan for an explanation. What, the poet wonders, did he never do to Vulcan that fire would attack his home and destroy his personal library.
Drink to me only with thine eyes,
And I will pledge with mine:
Arguably the most famous quote from a Jonson poem is the couple with which this poem commences. The line is deceptively simple; it appears on the surface to be merely the kind of request to a lover with which thousands of others begin. But a more careful analysis reveals that the first line is neither a plea nor a request. The second line makes clear that the act of gazing at him with loving appreciation is a pledge that will be returned. He’s not asking; he’s demanding. Jonson was notable for a forceful personality which made great demands upon those who would be pulled into his orbit.
Shine forth, thou Star of Poets, and with rage
Or influence, chide or cheer the drooping stage,
Which, since thy flight from hence, hath mourned like night,
And despairs day, but for thy volume's light.
These are the closing lines of Jonson’s heartfelt tribute to Shakespeare. The two had been rivals for the affections of London’s theatergoer with more than a few who predicted that Jonson’s fame would far outlive that of the Bard. Jonson was obviously expecting readers to assume that his elegy would be less than sincere because he expends a good deal of energy insisting that lofty place to which he assigned Shakespeare is the result of genuine admiration. The lines also prove prescient as London’s vibrant theatergoers very quickly mourned the dual losses of Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe with no one of equitable talent to take their place.
Thou art not, Penshurst, built to envious show,
Of touch or marble; nor canst boast a row
Of polished pillars, or a roof of gold;
With these opening lines, thought many, Ben Jonson initiated what would become a favorite genre in British poetry, the country house poem. It is a genre marked by the structure of addressing someone the poet admires through the conceit of admiring their home. This opening deconstructs the natural architectural appreciation for a building which might inspire a poet; he is denying the greatness of Penshurt comes from its construction materials and he will go on to insist that what makes other envious of the home is the hospitality, grace and virtue of its owners. For many decades, Jonson received full credit for originating the country home poem, but today that honor is universally ceded to Aemilia Lanyer's “Description of Cooke-ham” which had been published a full five years before “To Penshurt.”
