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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.
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- Summary
- Structure and Form
- Rhyme Scheme
- Metaphors in
- Themes and Imagery
- Tone
- On My First Son Analysis
- About Ben Jonson
‘On my First Son’ by Ben Jonsonis a poem about a father who has lost a young son, and attempts to distance himself from the tragedy in numerous ways. ‘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 b...
‘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 study guide contains a biography of Ben Jonson, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.
- Ben Jonson
In “On my First Son,” Ben Jonson writes a bitter and personal response to the death of his son. The poem is addressed to the son, and begins by emphasizing that he was Jonson’s favorite child.
- Ben Jonson
Summary. In “On My First Son,” Jonson addresses his first-born son, also named Benjamin, who died of the plague in 1603. The poem is an epigram, modeled on those of the Roman poet Martial.
The speaker then envies his son, who (since he's dead) is free from both the physical and the mental pains of life. The son also won't have to worry about the hassles of getting old, either. The speaker then asks his son to tell anyone who asks that he (the son) is Ben Jonson's best piece of poetry.
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 first son in 1603. It is an elegy, a poem of...
