ABSTRACT
Ben Jonson exemplifies labored authorship better than any other figure in the early modern English canon. His embrace of Horatian workmanlike composition dovetails naturally with his engagement in the building trades. Jonson's representations of labor take two forms: one, as part of the earthly realm, which he aligns with the business of theater and printing house; and two, as an abstract ideal that becomes the locus for virtuous, diligent composition from the ideal poet. Jonson wants his audiences to know that what they see and read from him is the result of laborious process, not of fancy, accident, or sudden inspiration. While claiming his role in the antimasque, Jonson disassociates him as poetic labor from it as much as possible. In Jonson's masque, Vulcan the blacksmith becomes the threateningly powerful figure with the ability to thwart nature through his art. Vulcan exhibits a level of devotion to his wife, Venus, which leads to his cuckoldry.
