19 pages • 38 minutes read
Ben JonsonStill to be neat, still to be dressed
Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1609A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
“On my First Son” by Ben Jonson (1616)
While largely known for his comedic and satirical work, this poem shows Jonson wrestling with the overwhelming grief he felt upon the death of his seven-year-old son. This moving elegy shows how the poet asked questions about mourning, death, and faith. Jonson’s understanding of writing as a way to immortalize his subject combines with his fatherly desire to enshrine his son’s memory.
“To Penshurst” by Ben Jonson (1616)
Written in heroic couplets, this poem seeks to elevate the Sidney family’s country house to neoclassical standards of hospitality and natural beauty. This poem serves as a model for a popular 17th-century English form: the country house poem.
“Delight in Disorder” by Robert Herrick (1648)
A friend of Jonson’s, Robert Herrick was also a Cavalier poet. This poem focuses on a similar topic as “Still to be neat.” In contrast to Jonson’s emphasis on chastity, Herrick instead advocates for a carpe diem outlook and a carefree and joyous approach to sex.
“To Althea, from Prison” by Richard Lovelace (1642)
Another Cavalier poet, Richard Lovelace’s work is deeply informed by neoclassical qualities. This poem, filled with classical allusions, declares his love for both Althea and his king.
Further Literary Resources
Epicoene; or the Silent Woman by Ben Jonson (1616)
This play, which includes “Still to be Neat,” is a comedy centering on an inheritance and a scheme to dress a young boy as a woman to deceive a rich uncle into leaving his inheritance to his nephew. While not immediately successful, the play gained popularity during the reopening of the theaters during the Restoration age. To this day, Epicoene remains one of Jonson’s most well-known comedies.
Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare (1594)
Jonson’s major rival, both during their lifetimes and in the canon, was William Shakespeare. In this early career comedy, Shakespeare examines the themes of performing femininity and the masculine desire to dictate a woman’s behavior and appearance.
The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Ben Jonson edited by David Bevington, et al. (2012)
This complete collection of Jonson’s works includes current scholarly thought to fully illuminate the texts for a modern reader.
Ben Jonson: A Life by Ian Donaldson (2012)
Written by a leading scholar on Jonson and his works, Donaldson’s biography presents an accessible account of Jonson’s life in its historical and literary context.
Every Man in His Humour by Ben Jonson (1616)
One of Jonson’s first major dramatic successes, this play belonged to a popular subgenre of the time: a humors comedy. These comedies’ major characters are ruled by one of their humors—bodily fluids that were believed to control a person’s personality. The play is neoclassical in form, reflecting a defining characteristic of Jonson’s writing.
Ben Jonson by Richard Dutton (2014)
Dutton’s work is a collection of essays that examines Jonson’s life, his major works, and his position in literary history and the canon itself.
“‘Things Like Truths, Well Feigned’: Mimesis and Secrecy in Jonson's Epicoene” by Reuben Sanchez (2006)
This article examines some of the themes present in “Still to be neat” in the whole of Epicoene. Sanchez uses neoclassical understandings of truth, mimesis, and secrecy to examine Dauphine and Clerimont’s actions and motivations.
“Mastery, Masculinity, and Sexual Cozening in Ben Jonson's Epicoene” by Ari Friedlander (2013)
This article explores the larger ramifications of the gender and sex politics in the play Epicoene.
Listen to Poem
Contemporary musicians Christopher Maltman and Malcolm Martineau perform composer Edward Elgar’s 1933 composition of “Still to be neat.”
Related Titles
By Ben Jonson
