ABSTRACT
Jonson’s reputation as a playwright is as a writer who loves words. In this section and elsewhere in this volume we have argued strongly that to be fully appreciated his plays need to be seen in the theatre or studied as theatre. This is at least partly because the apparent nonsense, the notorious lists, the nonce words, are examples of active language use; language used creatively as an active agent by characters who purposely wish to baffle and bemuse, to intrigue and intimidate, to distract and confuse.1 Jonson’s language is difficult sometimes, his local references are sometimes obscure, but this should not conceal the fact that some of the problems associated with reading the texts from the page are a product of specific pedagogical and critical methods.
