To the Memory of Ben Jonson. John Cleveland (1613-1658). Descriptive Poems: I. Personal: Great Writers. Bliss Carman, et al., eds. 1904. The World's Best Poetry. VII. Descriptive: Narrative

Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume VII. Descriptive: Narrative. 1904.

Descriptive Poems: I. Personal: Great Writers

To the Memory of Ben Jonson

John Cleveland (1613–1658)


THE MUSE’S fairest light in no dark time,
The wonder of a learnèd age; the line
Which none can pass! the most proportioned wit,—
To nature, the best judge of what was fit;
The deepest, plainest, highest, clearest pen;	5
The voice most echoed by consenting men;
The soul which answered best to all well said
By others, and which most requital made;
Tuned to the highest key of ancient Rome,
Returning all her music with his own;	10
In whom, with nature, study claimed a part,
And yet who to himself owed all his art:
Here lies Ben Jonson! every age will look
With sorrow here, with wonder on his book.