Ben Jonson


  U  N  D  E  R  W  O  O  D  S .

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.


XI. — ON THE PORTRAIT OF SHAKESPEARE.   

TO THE READER.

This figure that thou here seest put,
It was for gentle SHAKSPEARE cut,
Wherein the graver had a strife
With nature, to out-do the life :
O could he but have drawn his wit
As well in brass, as he has hit
His face ; the print would then surpass
All that was ever writ in brass :
But since he cannot, reader, look
Not on his picture, but his book.










Portrait of Shakespeare

Source:
Jonson, Ben.  The Works of Ben Jonson.
Boston: Phillips, Sampson, and Co., 1853. 814.


Backto Works of Ben Jonson

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Created by Anniina Jokinen on December 13, 2001. November 7, 2006.