Ben Jonson’s “on My First Son”

Trung Vu

Intro to Literature

Dr. Fournier

Ben Jonson’s “On My First Son”

        Ben Jonson was a well-known and influential English poet and playwright in the 17th century. One of the most famous work in Jonson’s career is the poem “On My First Son”, which was published in 1616, a few years after the death of his seven-year-old son. The poem is a reflection of a father’s pain and sorrow when he had to suffer from the loss of his beloved first son. Ben Jonson uses a lot of metaphors and imagery in “On My First Son” to illustrate the nature of death and the cost of too much attachment to somebody.

        Beginning the poem with the word “Farewell”, Ben Jonson indicates that this is the last chance for him to say good-bye to his adorable son, stating: “Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy; / My sin was too much of thee, loved boy…” (1-2). The metaphor “child of my right hand” emphasizes how important the son is to the father. He also admits that he had a sin which is “too much hope of thee”. He believes that having attached too much to someone is considered a sin because people do not know when life ends. In the next two lines, Ben Jonson writes: “Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay, / Exacted by thy fate, on the just day” (3-4). Using the metaphor of the relationship between “lent” and “pay” to illustrate the nature of death, Ben Jonson believes that his son was a loan from God. After seven years, he had to pay this loan back because of being “Exacted by thy fate”. The author also uses an interesting word “just” to mention the day that his son died, which implies that it is fair for a person to die as a way of returning him to God. The euphemism which the speaker uses relieves the grief and sorrow when mentioning the death.

        In the next four lines, Ben Jonson illustrates the definite truth behind the death. The author wants to give up all of his fatherhood’s feeling because of being so upset when his son died, stating that: “O could I lose all father now! for why” (5). This exaggeration emphasizes how close and important his son was toward the father; losing his son is like losing a piece of himself. Ben Jonson then states: “Will man lament the state he should envy, / To have so soon ‘scaped world’s and flesh’s rage, / And, if no other misery, yet age?” (6-8). The speaker implies that it is unreasonable for people to lament the death; instead, they should consider it as a privilege because it is “the state he should envy”. He believes that death is the only way for human to escape from the pain of the world and of the body. Death leads human to a better life. The speaker uses the personification “flesh’s rage” to highlight the intensive physical pain that people have to suffer when they remain alive in the world. Otherwise, if death has not released them from anything painful, it can at least help people to escape from the old age, which he believes to be miserable. This metaphor not only reduces the pain when thinking of death but also gives people a positive perspective on it.