Question

11. What is the theme that Ben Jonson makes about art and/or artists in

this poem?

To the Memory of My Beloved the Author, Mr. William Shakespeare

Answer 1

The theme that Jonson presents is that there are reasons to admire Shakespeare's writing.

Step-by-step explanation:

The poem praises the work of Shakespeare and Ben Jonson shows that even if they were rivals he cannot hide that Shakespeare's writing is admirable and that he can use simple words, without appeals to Latin and Greek and be better than many other writers who, although they have admirable works, fail to achieve the effect of Shakespeare's works. He goes so far as to say that Shakespeare does not need to use sophisticated words, because with the minimum effort he manages to be better than Euripides and Sophocles.