Benjamin Jonson (1572-1637) was a Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor, known best for his satirical plays and lyric poems. His career began in 1597 when he held a fixed engagement in the ‘Admiral’s Men’, and although he was unsuccessful as an actor, his literary talent was apparent and he began writing original plays for the troupe. Jonson had a knack for absurdity and hypocrisy, a trait that made him immensely popular in the 17th century Renaissance period. From about 1599-1601, a rivalry emerged between Jonson and the playwrights John Marston and Thomas Dekker dubbed Poetomachia, or War of the Theatres. Scholars agree that ‘The Poetaster, or His Arrangement, ‘ portrays all three playwrights in the characters of Horace, as Jonson, Crispinus as Marston, and Demetrius Fannius as Dekker. The term poetaster refers to a poet of inferior verse, so it is no surprise that the play is a scathing attack on the talent and artistry of Jonson’s rivals.
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