1. On my first Sonne Ben Jonson 1616

2. An elegy - a poem of sorrow about a father’s grief for his dead son.
On my first Sonne
The poem is about the
death of the poet’s
son, Benjamin, age 7 years
In 1603 Jonson left London to
stay at a country house.
The plague broke out in London and Jonson’s wife wrote to tell him his son had died.

3. Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
”Thou” second person singular pronoun used here rather than “you’ to express closeness of relationship.
Son addressed directly, saying goodbye
“Benjamin” linked to Hebrew words ‘ right hand’
Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
My sinne was too much hope of thee, lov'd boy
Punished for expecting too much of his son
Error or mistake but with religious significance

4. Seven yeeres thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
Speaking of the seven years of his son’s life as a loan from God
Paying for the life with the son’s death
Seven yeeres thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day
Has to be paid back – but ‘just’ could mean the correct or exact time

5. O, could I loose all father, now. For why
I would like to stop being a father now
O, could I loose all father, now. For why
Will man lament the state he should envie?
Be sad about
Death as a relief from all the problems of life, being at one with God

6. To have so soone scap'd worlds, and fleshes rage,
To have escaped the demands of passion
alliteration
To have so soone scap'd worlds, and fleshes rage,
And, if no other miserie, yet age?
Having got through life, old age itself is a fearful stage
Trying to convince himself his son is better off dead

7. Rest in soft peace, and, ask'd, say here doth lye
This contrasts with ”fleshes rage” in the previous couplet
Rest in soft peace, and, ask'd, say here doth lye
Ben. Jonson his best piece of poetrie.
The epitaph for his son
His proudest creation is his son

8. For whose sake, hence-forth, all his vowes be such,
Don’t love anything too much as the pain of losing it is too much.
For whose sake, hence-forth, all his vowes be such,
As what he loves may never like too much.
simple language, the only metaphor is of the boy as a loan
rhyming couplets divided into 3 sections