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- On my First Son By Ben Jonson Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy; My sin was too much hope of thee, lov'd boy. Seven years tho' wert lent to me, and I thee pay, Exacted by thy fate, on the just day. O, could I lose all father now!
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On my First Son. By Ben Jonson. Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy; My sin was too much hope of thee, lov'd boy. Seven years tho' wert lent to me, and I thee pay, Exacted by thy fate, on the just day. O, could I lose all father now!
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“On My First Son” is an elegy by the English poet and playwright Ben Jonson. He composed the poem shortly after his son died of the plague in 1603; his son was just seven years old at the time. Unlike many of Jonson’s other poems—which tend to be biting, sarcastic, and satirical—“On My First Son” is a moving testament to Jonson ...
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- On My First Son Analysis
- About Ben Jonson
‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson is a verse lamenton the dead son of the poet. The poet in the first few lines talks about his ill fate to wish too much for his child. He says he has been justly paid by the death of his son for such high expectations. Thereafter he asks himself, why men hate death. They should envy death as it helps one to escape “w...
‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson can be described as an elegy or epitaph. Twelve lines long, it is written in iambic pentameter in rhyming couplets. These coupletscould be indicative of the strong bond between father and son and the controlled form of the verse may be a means by which the poet tries to manage his grief. There is extensive use of ass...
‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson has an interesting rhyme scheme. It is composed of both a regular rhyme scheme and an imperfect rhyme scheme. The poet employs the closed couplet form to rhyme the lines internally. However, there are certain areas where the rhyme breaks. It shows the state of mind of the poet while he was writing this poem. Likewise...
‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson makes use of metaphors to make the poet’s thoughts more lively to the readers. Likewise, “child of my right hand”, is a metaphorthat portrays a child holding his father’s right hand while walking. In the third line, “Seven years tho’ wert lent to me…” the poet uses the metaphor of an object that was lent to him. He r...
‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson contains several themes that are important concerning the subject matter of the poem. The most important theme of the poem is death. In the poem, the poet mourns his son’s early death. In the moodof grief, he suddenly realizes death is an envious state. It lightens the soul from its worldly and fleshy pain. Death som...
‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson presents the poet’s loss of his seven-year-old child. He is a father as well as an overlooker in the poem. As a father at first, his tone is more sympathetic and grievous. Whereas in the penultimate section, his tone turns objective. He comments on mortality by keeping a safe distance. His tone has a cold and calm ou...
Lines 1–4
‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson details the basis for this poem in the first four lines. He has lost his son who was only able to see “[s]even years” of life. The child, oddly, is treated as a transaction of sorts in that he is labeled as something that has been “lent” to the narrator, and now must be “pa[id]” back, as if the situation were a business contract. This creates an almost mechanical atmosphereto the poem, like any emotion present in the lines is slipping through the cracks of the...
Lines 5–8
These lines take the poem to an even stranger plateau in that grief is the latest aspect that the narrator wants to relinquish. This is a concept that could feel curious to the reader, despite the narrator’s earlier desire for emotional separation. What parent, after all, could try to push asidegrief in favor of “envy” of a child who has passed on? Once more though, what could be taken as hardhearted could also be the narrator’s struggles to cope with his loss. Perhaps in his mind, rationaliz...
Lines 9–12
In contrast to the previous lines, this quartet is given as if spoken directly to the child. The narrator’s message to that child begins with the instruction to “[r]est in soft peace,” which is a variation of the standard “rest in peace” since the narrator has injected “soft” into the equation. This once more indicates that while the narrator wishes to distance himself from the situation and the grief, “soft[ness]” cannot help but creep into his emotions and reactions. Literally, the word sur...
Ben Jonson (1572 – 1637) was an English playwright, poet, and literary critic and was rumored to be a rival of William Shakespeare. ‘On My First Son’, with its heartfelt message of grief, is a marked departure from the scathing works of satire for which he was famed during his lifetime. Jonson was a controversial figure, who seemed to be forever ge...
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On My First Son. Ben Jonson. 1572 –. 1637. Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy; My sin was too much hope of thee, lov'd boy. Seven years thou'wert lent to me, and I thee pay, Exacted by thy fate, on the just day. O, could I lose all father now!
Genius Annotation. 3 contributors. Forming a sharp contrast with his witty satires, Jonson’s On My First Son is a moving and powerful piece serving as a memorial for the passing of his...
Complete text of the poem by Ben Jonson. ON MY FIRST SON. by: Ben Jonson (1572-1637) AREWELL, thou child of my right hand, and joy, My sin was too much hope of thee ...
Analysis. “On My First Son” takes a conventional form (the epitaph) and makes it unique to Jonson’s relationship with his son. Epitaphs are short poems written to commemorate the death of a loved one.
