Ben Jonson, The English Grammar

Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error

It is uncertain when Jonson started the work on his

English Grammar

(1641). But he refers to its presumably complete manuscript among the works lost when a fire broke out in his lodgings in November 1623. In “An execration upon Vulcan” (included in

The Underwood

) Jonson laments the destruction of the

Grammar

’s manuscript:

Was there made English, with a Grammar too, To teach some that their nurses could not do, The purity of language. (171)

Was there made English, with a Grammar too, To teach some that their nurses could not do, The purity of language. (171)

Jonson rewrote the volume sometime after 1623, though the exact timeframe remains uncertain. C. H. Herford and Percy Simpson believed that he returned to the project only in the 1630s and, according to David Riggs, The English

921 words

Citation: Vyroubalova, Ema. "The English Grammar". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 June 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=974, accessed 28 March 2024.]

974 The English Grammar 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.