JUNE 11, 1572 AUGUST 6, 1637

“On My First Son”Ben Jonson

Joe Simon, Adam Hurm, Austin Karcher

Biography

“On My First Son” was composed in 1603

Dedicated to his son Benjamin who passed

away in the plague

Benjamin means “son of my right hand” in

Hebrew

“Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and

joy”(Ln.1)

“On My First Son”

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 whyWill man lament the state he should envy?

To have so soon 'scap'd world's and flesh's rage,And if no other misery, yet age?

Rest in soft peace, and, ask'd, say, "Here doth lieBen Jonson his best piece of poetry."

For whose sake henceforth all his vows be such,As what he loves may never like too much.

Style

Epitaph-inscription placed on a tomb or monument

to honor the memory of a person buried there

(517).

Elegy-poem celebrating a person who has recently

died

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Somber tone

Themes of death, love, and family

Other Interesting Facts

Cavalier poet

Put on play Every Man In His Humor and

killed actor

Did not go to college

Production of his first plays put him in prison

Works Cited

"On My First Son." McDougal Littell Literature. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2009. N. pag. Print.

Leech, Clifford. "Ben Jonson (English Writer)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 30 Sept. 2014.