On my First Son

Ever feel like you have the worst luck and the whole world is against you? Well worry not because Ben Jonson is here to cry with you! Ben Jonson wrote this poem, On My First Son, about the worst time of his life. One day, Jonson had a dream about his son. In that dream, he saw his son with a mark of a bloody cross on his forehead. Jonson thought this was just his imagination, but soon afterwards, Jonson received news of his son’s death to the plague. He then wrote this poem mainly talking about death, love, and life. Jonson expressed in his poem the love he had for his son and that life was not worth living.

Jonson loved his firstborn son with all his heart, and he did rightly so. During the British Renaissance period, society was patriarchal, and firstborn sons were the most important of the offspring. Jonson loved his firstborn son so much that he went to extreme ends. “For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such As what he loves may never like too much.” (Line 11-12) Talking about himself in the third person, he swore not to love anything anymore, that way he could avoid the pain of losing the things he loves. Jonson also shows that he is very proud of his son. “Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, 'Here doth lie Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry”. In other words, Jonson thinks that his son is his best piece of work, and worth far more than all his other works of writing. He uses symbolism when he calls his son poetry; he meant that his son was his most prized creation. Ben Jonson expresses deep love for his firstborn son.

Ben Jonson really like talking about death and how much better it is than life. He even got jealous of his son. “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!” (Line 5-8) Ben Jonson thought that his son got to escape the world and all its pains and sorrows. He also thought old age was a curse and it was better to die when you are young. Through it all, we can see that Ben Jonson had suicidal thoughts because of the death of his son and was probably going through crippling depression.

Ben Jonson uses an interesting image to describe the time he had with his son. He used imagery to say that his son was “lent” to him for seven years. “Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay” (Line 3). He had to “pay” him back to God after seven years. This payment was fulfilled through his son’s death. He used this imagery to create a justified reason for his son to die.

Altogether, the poem, On My First Son, was very short, lasting only 12 lines with about 100 words. In those 100 words Ben Jonson was able to express the overwhelming love he had for his son and the depressing view he had on life and whether it was worth living. If Ben Jonson lived during our time period, he would probably be diagnosed with depression. The poem was a beautiful expression of Ben Jonson’s feelings and will always be cherished as an amazing poem from the renaissance period of British History.

Jonson, Ben. “On My First Son by Ben Jonson.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44455/on-my-first-son.