Chapter published in:
Style, Rhetoric and Creativity in Language: In memory of Walter (Bill) Nash (1926-2015)Edited by Paul Simpson
[Linguistic Approaches to Literature 34] 2019
► pp. 85–100
Chapter 5“My Shakespeare, rise”
Ben Jonson’s pronominal choices in “To the Memory of My Beloved, the Author” (1623)
Clara Calvo | University of Murcia
This chapter focuses on the book Mr. William Shakespeare’s
Comedies, Histories and Tragedies (1623), which is widely known
today as the First Folio. When the First Folio was printed in 1623, the
editors and printers included in its preliminary matter several poems in
praise of Shakespeare. Among these were two by the author’s friend and
rival, Ben Jonson. One of the poems, “To the Memory of My Beloved, the
Author”, displays an unusual pronominal density and contains some intriguing
pronominal choices. This chapter examines the rhetorical fabric of Jonson’s
eulogy for Shakespeare and dissects the critical and ideological
implications of its peculiar use of the pronominal system. It focuses in
particular on the use of first person possessive pronouns such as “my” and
“ours” in relation to Jonson’s personal agenda: his self-fashioning as
literary critic and his support, as Poet Laureate in all but name, for King
James’s vision of a united Britain.
Keywords: Jonson, Ben, eulogy, First Folio, pronominal choice, pronominal density, pronouns, rhetorical structure, “To the Memory of My Beloved, the Author”
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Jonson and Shakespeare’s antagonistic friendship
- 3.The First Folio preliminary matter
- 4.The rhetorical fabric of Jonson’s eulogy
- 5.Pronominal density and possessive pronouns
- 6.Coda
-
References
Published online: 28 November 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/lal.34.07cal
https://doi.org/10.1075/lal.34.07cal
References
Baxter, J.
Barton, A.
1981 Harking Back to Elizabeth: Ben Jonson and Caroline Nostalgia. ELH 48: 706–731 Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2872958 Accessed: 09-02-2018 23:55 UTC 

Brown, R. & A. Gilman
DeStefano, B. L.
Dobson, M.
Manning, J.
Newton, R. H.
Peterson, R.
Shakespeare, William
Smith, E.
Trimpi, W.
van den Berg, S.
Cited by
Cited by 1 other publications
Statham, Simon
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