Ben Jonson's ascent wasn't one. He was the son of a gentleman, had a trade, had access to money, trained under Camden, and fought under Francis Vere.
Shakespeare's lack of all that status is exactly why he is the 'upstart crow' and mocked for his (failed) attempts at social climbing instead of gaining any more purchase in society than as 'country bumpkin'-turned-writer. He was not somebody, and therefore not one the somebodies talked about.
Writers were not held in high esteem and were easily knocked off of their precarious perch in society (cf. Thomas Kyd).
Shakespeare's lack of all that status is exactly why he is the 'upstart crow' and mocked for his (failed) attempts at social climbing instead of gaining any more purchase in society than as 'country bumpkin'-turned-writer. He was not somebody, and therefore not one the somebodies talked about.
Writers were not held in high esteem and were easily knocked off of their precarious perch in society (cf. Thomas Kyd).