On My First Son
- 1. On My First Son Ben Jonson
- 2. 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! For why Will man lament the state he should envy? To have so soon scap'd worlds and flesh's rage, And, if no other misery, yet age! Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say here doth lie Ben Johnson his best piece of poetry. For whose sake, hence-forth, all his vows be such, As what he loves may never like too much. 油
- 3. Summary The poem On My First Son by Ben Jonson is a bout a father that loses his son. He talks about how much he loved and adored him and how the world is such an unforgiving place.
- 4. Speaker + Audience The speaker of the poem is the father (we're assuming Ben Jonson, because hes mentioned in the poem) and the audience is his son who was taken from him too soon.
- 5. Mood + Theme The mood of the poem is sorrow and sadness. He continually grieves about his deceased son which isn't the happiest of topics. The theme is that no one should take life for granted, as it could be taken away at any moment.
- 6. Lines that Stood Out There were a couple of lines that really set the tone and mood of the poem and give us some insight on understanding the speakers message and perspective.
- 7. Line 1 "Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;" 油 In this line, we get an image of a father holding his sons hand, but then the son being pulled away. This line already shows us how important he was to the father, because the son was like his right hand; always with him.
- 8. Line 3 "Seven years tho' wert lent to me, and I thee pay" 油 This line explains that the speakers son was "taken" from him at a young age (7). Almost as if the son was lent to him, only to be taken away.
- 9. Line 5 "O, could I lose all father, now!" 油 Here, we see that the speaker feels as if he has now lost all the father to him because his son was taken away. This shows that he was extremely close with this boy and that he is losing a piece of himself.
- 10. Poetic Devices Symbolism: - The author compares the son to a piece of poetry when it says "Ben Johnson his best piece of poetry". This means that the fathers best work and accomplishment in life was raising and caring for his son. - Religious theme; "thou child of my right hand" might have had something to do with Jesus sitting on the right hand of the Father.
- 11. End