Jonson’s poetic response to bad reviews of his plays by ‘wolf’ and ‘ass’ praises poetry and urges a return to deeper sources of inspiration
An Ode to Himself
Where dost thou careless lie,
Buried in ease and sloth?
Knowledge that sleeps doth die;
And this security,
It is the common moth
That eats on wits and arts, and oft destroys them both.