Department of English
Faculty of Arts, Chulalongkorn University
On My First Son
(1603)
Ben Jonson
(1572-1637)
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Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy; |
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| 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 | 5 |
| 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. | 10 |
| For whose sake henceforth all his vows be such, | |
| As what he loves may never like too much. |
"On My First Son" Notes
Summary:
Ben Jonson wrote this elegy after the death in 1603 of his eldest son, Benjamin,
aged seven. The poet addresses the boy, bidding him farewell, and then seeks
some meaning for his loss. Jonson blames himself, rhetorically at least, arguing
that he hoped too much for his son, who was only on loan to him. Now that the
seven years are up, the boy has had to be returned.
Jonson tries to argue that this is only fair and his presumptuous plans for the
boy's future were the cause of his present sense of loss. He then questions his
own grief: why lament the enviable state of death when the child has escaped
suffering and the misery of aging? He cannot answer this question, simply saying
"Rest in soft peace" and asking that the child, or perhaps the grave,
record that his son was Jonson's "best piece of poetry," the creation
of which he was most proud. He concludes by vowing that from now on he will be
more careful with those he loves; he will be wary of liking and so needing them
too much.
1 thou:
archaic: the one that is being addressed--used as a nominative pronoun of the second person singular especially in biblical, ecclesiastical, solemn, or poetic language; used in Middle English and in early modern English at least into the 17th century as the appropriate form of address to an intimate friend or a person of lower social status than the speaker (Webster's Third New International Dictionary 2380)
1 son of my right hand
cf. Geneva Bible: "Beniamin, sonne of the right hand, who was first called Benoni, the sonne of sorrow, Gen. 35.18"
4 exacted: fined; demanded
4 just: right, appropriate, correct
5 lose: give up, let go of
10 Jonson his: possessive form
12 As what he loves may never like too much: cf. the Roman poet Martial's line: "Quidquid amas, cupias non placuisse nimis" ("whatever thou lovest, pray that it may not please thee too much" Epigrammaton Libri 6.29.8).
12 like: please
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Last updated June 8, 2009