The Poetaster

play by Jonson

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July 1, 2026

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Poetaster is a play by Ben Jonson, first performed around 1601. The term "poetaster" itself refers to an inferior poet. In the play, Jonson satirizes contemporary playwrights, including John Marston and Thomas Dekker, portraying them as hacks and plagiarists. Jonson, a prominent English dramatist and poet, was known for his sharp wit and satirical comedies, such as Volpone and The Alchemist. Poetaster was written during a period of intense rivalry among playwrights known as the "war of the theatres".12345

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Ben Jonson
Theatrical career
1600) and Poetaster (1601). Even in these, however, there is the paradox of contempt for human behaviour hand in hand with a longing for human order.
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1600) and Poetaster (1601). Even in these, however, there is the paradox of contempt for human behaviour hand in hand with a longing for human order.
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Thomas Dekker
…was satirized in Ben Jonson’s Poetaster (produced 1601) as Demetrius Fannius, “a very simple honest fellow. . . a dresser of plays.” This precipitated Dekker’s own attack on Jonson in the play Satiro-mastix (produced 1601). Thirteen more plays survive in which Dekker collaborated with such figures as Thomas Middleton, John…
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…was satirized in Ben Jonson’s Poetaster (produced 1601) as Demetrius Fannius, “a very simple honest fellow. . . a dresser of plays.” This precipitated Dekker’s own attack on Jonson in the play Satiro-mastix (produced 1601). Thirteen more plays survive in which Dekker collaborated with such figures as Thomas Middleton, John…
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John Marston
” In Poetaster (produced 1601) Jonson depicted Marston as Crispinus, a character with red hair and small legs who was given a pill that forced him to disgorge a pretentious vocabulary.
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” In Poetaster (produced 1601) Jonson depicted Marston as Crispinus, a character with red hair and small legs who was given a pill that forced him to disgorge a pretentious vocabulary.
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