© 2004 On My First Sonne by Ben Jonson 1743 1 Ben Jonson (1572-1637) was an actor, playwright and...

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On My First Sonne by Ben Jonson

1743 1

Ben Jonson (1572-1637) was an actor, playwright and a poet. During his day he was a very highly regarded playwright, even more so than his contemporary, William Shakespeare!

He lived through many traumas: not only did his son die at a young age but he was also convicted of murdering a fellow actor, Gabriel Spencer!

As well as writing plays he also wrote two collections of poetry.



Name:

About the poet

Occupation:Actor, playwright and poet

Education:

The young Jonson attended Westminster School, a rigorous, classics-minded grammar school. He did not go to university, probably for reasons of money, training instead in his step-father's trade as a bricklayer. However, at some point in the 1590s he chose to try his luck as a soldier in the Low Countries where English troops were involved in the continuing wars between the Dutch and the Spanish.

The records of the Tylers and Bricklayers' Companies seem to indicate that Jonson worked in their trade from 1595 to around 1602 the same years which saw Jonson establish himself as both actor and writer.

Other:

b.1572 d.1637Ben Jonson



What is an elegy?An elegy is a mournful poem or song, a lament for the dead.

What does lament mean?Lament means to express sorrow, remorse or regret. A poem or song in which a death is lamented.


On My First Sonne by Ben Jonson On My First SonneFarewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;My sinne was too much hope of thee, lov'd boy.Seven yeeres tho'wert lent to me, and I thee pay,Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.O, could I loose all father, now. For whyWill man lament the state he should envie?To have so soone scap'd worlds, and fleshes rage,And, if no other miserie, yet age?Rest in soft peace, and, ask'd, say here doth lyeBen. Jonson his best piece of poetrie.For whose sake, hence-forth, all his vowes be such,As what he loves may never like too much.

On My First Son – Modern Goodbye, you child of my right hand, and joy;My sin was hoping too much for your future, beloved boy.Seven years you were lent to me, and I pay you in my grief, Caused by your fate on that just day.O, could I loosen all fatherliness now. Why Will people feel sad about death when they should envy it? To have escaped the world and unhappiness of the world,And to have escaped the misery of age?Rest in soft peace, and, if asked, say here doth lieBen. Johnson’s best piece of poetry.For my own sake, from now on, all my vowes be,To never love something too much. 1743 4



1743 5

On my first Sonne

Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;My sinne was too much hope of thee, lov’d boy.Seven yeeres tho’wert lent to me, and I thee pay,Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.O, could I loose all father, now. For whyWill man lament the state he should envie?To have so soone scap’d worlds, and fleshes rage,And, if no other miserie, yet age?Rest in soft peace, and, ask’d, say here doth lyeBen. Jonson his best piece of poetrie.For whose sake, hence-forth, all his vows be such,As what he loves may never like too much.

Ben Jonson 1616



1743 6

Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;

What kind of a statement is this? Who is he speaking to?



1743 7


How did he feel about his son?

Religion was really important in the 17th Century. Who sat at the right hand of God? Is there a connection?

”Thou” second person singular pronoun.

used here rather than “you’ to express

closeness of relationship.

In Hebrew, Benjamin means

"son of the right hand.”Jonson is playing on the name.



1743 8

Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;My sinne was too much hope of thee, lov’d boy.

Jonson believes that he has sinned by loving his son too much. He feels responsible for his son’s death.

The church had very strict rules in the 17th Century. Your relationship with your loved ones should have been seen as second to your relationship with God. Maybe Jonson feels that his relationship with God was not as it should have been and that as a result, God has taken his son away?



1743 9

My sinne was too much hope of thee, lov’d boy.


Seven yeeres tho’wert lent to me, and I thee pay,

Why use this word?How is he paying?



1743 10

Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;My sinne was too much hope of thee, lov’d boy.

Seven yeeres tho’wert lent to me, and I thee pay,Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.

‘just’ means – morally right and fair. Jonson believes his punishment to be fair.

That had to be paid back with the boy’s life



1743 11

Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;My sinne was too much hope of thee, lov’d boy.Seven yeeres tho’wert lent to me, and I thee pay,

Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.

In the first four lines of the poem, Jonson forms the beginnings of an ‘extended metaphor’. His child’s life has been a seven year loan. The day that his son died is the day that he paid back the loan.

Bank of GOD

You owe ME one child!Did you know that Jonson’s child was called Benjamin and that ‘child of my right hand’ is the English translation of this Hebrew name?



1743 12

O, could I loose all father, now. For whyWill man lament the state he should envie?

Father is him & GOD. What could this statement be suggesting? (Who has his son gone to be with?)

I wish I could give up acting like a father

The boy’s in heaven - why grieve about this



1743 13


Father is him (Jonson) & GOD. What could this statement be suggesting? (Who has his son gone to be with?)

Be sad about something

Wanting what his son has got.

Now spelt ‘lose’



1743 14


To have so soone scap’d worlds, and fleshes rage,And, if no other miserie, yet age?

Escaped

There is a real CONTRAST to his feelings in the first part of the poem. Why do you think he uses the phrases ‘escaped worlds’ and ‘fleshes rage’?

The misery is on earth

His son has managed to escape the earthly misery of ageing.



1743 15


To have so soone scap’d worlds, and fleshes rage,And, if no other miserie, yet age?

In the first part of the poem we saw Jonson blame himself for his son’s death. He created the image that his son had only been lent to him.

In the next four lines we see a contrast to his earlier feelings. He now displays a little jealousy at the fact that his son has escaped the miseries of earth and found the peaceful and envious place of Heaven.

And the misery of age

To have escaped

the demands of passion

Jonson is trying to convince himself that the boy is better off dead



1743 16

Rest in soft peace, and, ask’d, say here doth lyeBen. Jonson his best piece of poetrie.

An Epitaph?

Who is he talking about here?

Is he talking about this poem or something else? Poetry is a creation.This is a metaphor for something he created. What?

This contrasts with”fleshes rage” in the previous couplet



1743 17

Rest in soft peace, and, ask’d, say here doth lyeBen. Jonson his best piece of poetrie.For whose sake, hence-forth, all his vows be such,As what he loves may never like too much.

promises

He got too close to his son and was hurt badly. He promises never to get that close to the ones he loves again!



1743 18

Rest in soft peace, and, ask’d, say here doth lyeBen. Jonson his best piece of poetrie.

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

In the final four lines of the poem, Jonson says farewell to his son – ‘rest in peace’. He says that his son was the best thing he ever had a hand in creating.

He has also learnt that getting close to the people you love can cause immense grief; something he vows to avoid in the future.



http://www.marrasouk.com

For whose sake, hence-forth, all his vowes be such,As what he loves may never like too much.

He’s telling himself not to like, too much, the things he loves

Why?

Because it’s painful when you lose the things you love

Because loving them too much

is a “sinne” and could

cause their death

“what he loves” could refer to people

or to his poetry



http://www.marrasouk.com

The final couplet picks up on idea earlier in the poem

For whose sake, hence-forth, all his vowes be such,As what he loves may never like too much.

This links withMy sinne was too much hope of thee

This suggests that loving too much could have caused the death of the boy



Iambic PentameterIambic pentameter consists of one short syllable followed by one long syllable – these pairs are Iambs. There are five groups of Iambs – hence pentameter.

da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum da-dum

When read aloud such verse naturally follows a beat, similar to that of a human heart beat at rest. In written form it looks like this:

So Jonson's work would follow the pattern:

Fare-well thou-child of-my right-hand and-joy



On my first sonne

Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy; My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy. Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay, Exacted by thy fate, on the just day. Oh, could I lose all father now. For why 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! Rest in soft peace, and asked, say, Here doth lie Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry. For whose sake henceforth all his vows be such As what he loves may never like too much.

Bidding goodbye

Addressed to his dead son

What was the sin?

His son’s name was Ben, Hebrew for “right hand”

Hoped for so much, but fate made him pay

The hand of god

Died at 7 years What emotion is portrayed by the “O”?

Questions why we should fear deathGone to a

better place

Escaped the pain of growing old

Euphemism, makes death sound comforting

A gift from heaven

Wants to avoid being hurt again so much

© 2004 On My First Sonne by Ben Jonson 1743 1 Ben Jonson (1572-1637) was an actor, playwright and...

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