Poetry Response #6: "An Ode to Himself"

Ben Jonson exposes the downfall of every man in his “An Ode to Himself.” In his first stanza, he lays out all of his weaknesses in front of him, asking himself, “Where dost thou careless lie, buried in ease and sloth?” He alludes that he rarely works uses his head, letting his intelligence slip away, hiding information from him so that when he reaches for it he’ll have to crawl around the depths of his mind to retrieve it. He chides comfort in laziness and security, calling it “the common moth” that absorbs wits and arts.
His stanzas seem to run off on tangents, barely connecting to the one preceding it and ending without setting a specific direction for the next to follow. The rhyme pattern isn’t consistent, yet each stanza holds some sort of scheme. While some connect, others are random and forced; the general layout of the poem was not carefully constructed centuries before, and Jonson is clearly making out his pattern as he writes.
The poet moves from accusing himself of slacking to blaming the influence society has lain upon him by shifting from recognizing his flaws, to reaching back to the historical prominence (and relatability) of Greek mythology, to the general degenerate state of humanity. He briefly commends the few great minds, but then points out that they pride themselves on their good fortune, possibly referring to one or two know-it-alls he’s encountered, solely dangling their intelligence in front of others, putting it to no considerable use. He then scorns them, assuming they know not the work put into writing poetry and take for granted the way the words flow, the image they sculpt and the message they convey. He tries to explain that all genius is wasted, artificial, until it is put to work. His poetry appeals to the highly educated, because it flaunts their knowledge of the ancient classics, but is a satire at the same time, appealing to the less educated in the way that it jabs the higher ups for putting their smarts to no use while the common man has street smarts. Essentially, his writing appeals to all different classes, the same way Shakespeare’s plays were loved, and understood, by all.