S Song to Celia/lyric/Ben Jonson
Song to
Celia is from Ben Jonson’s The Forest.
John F.M.Dovaston was the first to point out in 1815 that song to Celia
was constructed from passages in the prose epistles of Philostratus. Ben Jonson is indebted to him for the
bantering tone and the ingenious conceit.
But he has so skilfully transformed the borrowing that the poem appear
original and, to use the words of George Parfit, thoroughly English in Diction,
syntax and rhythm. W.M.Evans observes
that the happy marriage of words and music is responsible for its excellence.
The first eight lines express how the
poet esteems the kiss of Celia superior to wine and Jove’s nectar. The next eight lines suggest that she can
influence and improve upon Nature; for she makes the garland fresh and lends
her fragrance to it, which is more pleasant and lasting than its own sweet
smell. This conceit smacks of the
metaphysical concept of unified sensibility.
The poem, thus extols the unique and and almost divine trait of Celia.
The poem may be divided into two
eight-lined stanzas with the rhyme scheme abcb abcb, each line consisting of
eight syllables. It is marked by
classical poise, elegance, subdued emotion and an urban tone.