John Marston
Who was John Marston?
English writer 1575?-1634
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on John Marston (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
John Marston was baptized on October 7, 1576, in Coventry, England. He became a unique voice in late Elizabethan and early Jacobean literature, known for being a playwright, poet, and satirist. Although his writing career was short, he made a significant impact on the theater and literature of his time. He died on June 25, 1634, in Hampshire, having left writing to pursue a life in the church.
Marston studied at Brasenose College, Oxford, before joining the Middle Temple in London, following his father's path as a lawyer. However, instead of pursuing law, Marston focused on literature. His first published works were erotic narrative poems, including "The Metamorphosis of Pygmalion's Image" and "The Scourge of Villainy," both in 1598. The latter, a collection of verse satires, was controversial enough to be burned by order of the Bishop of London in 1599 during a crackdown on satirical literature.
He then turned his attention to the stage, becoming a prolific and creative playwright. Writing mainly for children's acting companies, notably the Children of Paul's and later the Children of the Queen's Revels, Marston produced plays ranging from sharp satirical comedies to dark tragicomedies. His plays include "Antonio and Mellida," its sequel "Antonio's Revenge," "The Malcontent," "The Dutch Courtesan," and "Eastward Ho," co-written with Ben Jonson and George Chapman. "Eastward Ho" got all three authors in trouble with King James I due to passages mocking Scottish courtiers, risking their imprisonment.
Marston's relationship with Ben Jonson was complex. They engaged in a long-running literary quarrel known as the War of the Theatres, where they mocked each other in their plays. Jonson portrayed Marston as the character Crispinus in "The Poetaster," poking fun at his complex and often made-up vocabulary. Despite this rivalry, they later collaborated, suggesting their dispute was partly a professional rivalry rather than purely personal.
Around 1607 or 1608, Marston suddenly stopped writing plays and eventually joined the church. He was ordained as a deacon and priest in 1609 and served as rector of Christchurch in Hampshire until 1631. Why he left literature so completely is still debated by scholars. He died in London in 1634 and was buried beside his father in the Temple Church.
Before Fame
John Marston grew up during a time of cultural and intellectual excitement in England. Born in Coventry and educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, he was the son of a Middle Temple lawyer who hoped Marston would follow in his legal footsteps. Marston did enroll at the Middle Temple after Oxford, but he had little interest in a law career.
Instead, he focused on writing during a period when London's literary scene was bustling. In the late 1590s, a trend for published satire emerged, and Marston joined in with his verse collections, which quickly gained both popularity and official criticism. When his satires were banned in 1599, he wasn't discouraged; instead, he turned to the theater, which was then the most lively platform available to a motivated writer in England.
Key Achievements
- Authored The Malcontent, a tragicomedy considered one of the most accomplished Jacobean stage works of the early 1600s
- Contributed significantly to the development of Jacobean satirical drama, particularly through plays written for children's acting companies
- Published The Scourge of Villainy in 1598, an influential and controversial collection of verse satires
- Co-wrote Eastward Ho with Ben Jonson and George Chapman, one of the notable collaborative plays of the Jacobean period
- Helped shape the Antonio plays, Antonio and Mellida and Antonio's Revenge, which advanced the revenge tragedy genre
Did You Know?
- 01.Marston's verse satires were among those ordered to be publicly burned by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London in June 1599 as part of a ban on printed satire.
- 02.He famously feuded with Ben Jonson during the so-called War of the Theatres, yet the two men later co-authored the play Eastward Ho in 1605.
- 03.Eastward Ho contained jokes about Scottish people that so offended King James I that Marston, Jonson, and Chapman all faced the threat of having their ears and noses cut off as punishment.
- 04.After approximately a decade of writing, Marston was ordained as a Church of England priest in 1609 and largely renounced his literary career, serving as a rector in Hampshire for some twenty years.
- 05.Marston's distinctive writing style was notable for its coined or obscure words, a habit that made him a target for satirists including Jonson, who mocked his vocabulary on stage.