Quotes from The Complete Poems
18 notable lines from Ben Jonson · 1616
He was not of an age, but for all time!
Drink to me only with thine eyes, / And I will pledge with mine.
Song: To Celia Drink to me only with thine eyes, / And I will pledge with mine; / Or leave a kiss but in the cup, / And I'll not look for wine.
Opening lines, "Song: To Celia" (The Forest) Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy; / My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.
On My First Son Sweet Swan of Avon!
On Shakespeare, "To the Memory of My Beloved" (First Folio, 1623) And though thou hadst small Latin, and less Greek...
On Shakespeare, "To the Memory of My Beloved" (First Folio, 1623) Soul of the age! / The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage!
On Shakespeare, "To the Memory of My Beloved" (First Folio, 1623) Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie / Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry."
"On My First Son" (Epigrams) Thou art a monument without a tomb, / And art alive still while thy book doth live.
On Shakespeare, "To the Memory of My Beloved" (First Folio, 1623) Queen and huntress, chaste and fair, / Now the sun is laid to sleep...
Opening lines, "Hymn to Diana" (song from Cynthia's Revels) Still to be neat, still to be dressed, / As you were going to a feast...
Opening lines, "Still to Be Neat" (song from Epicene) A lily of a day / Is fairer far in May, / Although it fall and die that night— / It was the plant and flower of Light.
"To the Immortal Memory of... Cary and Morison" (often anthologized as "The Noble Nature") Thou art not, Penshurst, built to envious show, / Of touch or marble; nor canst boast a row / Of polished pillars, or a roof of gold.
Opening lines, "To Penshurst" (The Forest) Have you seen but a bright lily grow, / Before rude hands have touched it?
"A Celebration of Charis: Her Triumph" In small proportions we just beauties see; / And in short measures life may perfect be.
"To the Immortal Memory of... Cary and Morison" ("The Noble Nature") Give me a look, give me a face, / That makes simplicity a grace.
"Still to Be Neat" (song from Epicene) Underneath this stone doth lie / As much beauty as could die.
Opening lines, "Epitaph on Elizabeth, L. H." O so white! O so soft! O so sweet is she!
Closing line, "A Celebration of Charis: Her Triumph"