Sons of Ben

The phrase Sons of Ben is a mildly problematic term applied to followers of Ben Jonson, in English poetry and drama in the first half of the seventeenth century.

It is used, probably too loosely, as a synonym for the Cavalier poets, in contrast with the Metaphysical poets. It is used more narrowly for immediate poetic followers of Jonson, a group led by Thomas Carew, Robert Herrick, Richard Lovelace and Sir John Suckling. These, more correctly, are the Tribe of Ben.

The most correct usage is that the Sons of Ben are the dramatists, notably Beaumont and Fletcher, Richard Brome, Nathan Field, Philip Massinger and Shirley, who took from Jonson's style of drama.

See also

• Jacobean era