Sons of Ben (literary group) 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.
These men followed John Ben Jonson's philosophy and his style of
poetry. Their poetry was closest to that of Ben Jonson's. These
men, unlike Jonson, were loyal to the king. Sons of Ben has been
applied to the dramatists who were overtly and admittedly
influenced by Jonson's drama, his most distinctive artistic
achievement. Joe Lee Davis listed eleven playwrights in this
group: Richard Brome, Thomas Nabbes, Henry Glapthorne, Thomas
Killigrew, Sir William Davenant, William Cartwright, Shackerley
Marmion, Jasper Mayne, Peter Hausted, Thomas Randolph, and
William Cavendish. The term, or the alternative "Tribe of Ben,"
was also employed as self-description by some of the Cavalier
poets who admired and were influenced by Jonson's poetry,
including Robert Herrick, Richard Lovelace, Sir John Suckling,
and Thomas Carew. Jonson and