Ben Jonson

Ben Jonson
www.hymntime.com/tch
Short Name: Ben Jonson
Full Name: Jonson, Ben, 1573?-1637
Birth Year (est.): 1573
Death Year: 1637

Jonson, Benjamin, commonly known as Ben Jonson, the son of a clergyman, was born at Westminster in 1573, and educated at Westminster School, and St. John's, Cambridge. He died in London, Aug. 6, 1637. His history and dramatic abilities are well known to all students of English literature. He is known in association with hymnody mainly through his carol, "I sing the birth—was born tonight," which is still in use. It is given in his Underwoods in the 2nd vol. (folio) of his Works, 1640, and entitled "A Hymn on the Nativity of my Saviour." Two additional hymns therein, "The sinner's sacrifice" and "A Hymn to God the Father," have much merit, but are unsuited for congregational use. His Works have been edited by Gifford, and more recently by Lieut. Col. Francis Cunningham.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

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Jonson, Ben, p. 606, i. His “Hymn to God the Father," beginning “Hear me, O God. A broken heart," is in Turing's Collection, 1882, in an abridged form.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

Wikipedia Biography

Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for the satirical plays Every Man in His Humour (1598), Volpone, or The Fox (c. 1606), The Alchemist (1610) and Bartholomew Fair (1614) and for his lyric and epigrammatic poetry. "He is generally regarded as the second most important English dramatist, after William Shakespeare, during the reign of James I."

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