Attitudes And Ideas- What is the poem about? The poem is about a father and son. When being away from home, Jonson receives a letter telling him his son has died from the plague. We know this because, ‘Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;’ This shows the poem is a way in which Jonson says goodbye to his son and that his son was his joy. Also, He loses his faith in God as he feels God has taken his son away from him. ‘O, could I loose all father, now. For why?’ This shows that he asks God why he has taken his son away from him. Also, this shows that Jonson wishes he could lose all the feelings of a father so he would not be in so much pain.

Themes Death (the son’s death) Misery (the misery of the father) Sorrow Lost in faith (the father has lost faith) Love (the love between son & father) Religion (the father blames god for his misery) Disappointment

Structure The poem is made to look and sound like natural speech, like the father is saying a last prayer to say his goodbye to his son. This conversational tone is achieved by the lack of poetic imagery and the use of iambic pentameter. It also has a pattern to how the rhyming is, makes it have a flow and makes the most important words stand out and send a message to the reader. It makes it sound like a prayer or hymn.

Structure ‘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 why ? Will 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 lye Ben.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. The poem has rhyming couplets. ‘Rage’ & ’Age’ These two words link together to show that Jonson is angry about the age that his son died at. ‘Joy’ & ‘Boy’ These two words link together to show That Jonsons’ joy in life was his son.

Alternative Interpretation Another interpretation of this poem could be that Jonson wishes that he never became a father. Our evidence to support this is; ‘seven yeeres tho’ wert lent to me, and I thee pay’. This shows the reader that he thinks that God gave him a son and now has taken him away from him. He has had to pay back his debt to God.

What Poem Does This Compare With? The first poem it compares with is ‘My Last Duchess’, as this poem is about someone losing someone close to them. However they are different because Jonson loved his son, but the Duke in Browning’s poem had his first wife killed.

What Other Poem Does This Compare With? Another poem that it is compared to is ‘November’ by Simon Armitage, this poem again has a similar content, as it also is about someone losing a close person in their life. They are also in a similar situation as the father in ‘On my first sonne’, as they know that the person would soon die.

Why Is The Poem Successful? The poem is successful because it is very emotional, and can make the reader feel Jonson’s pain as losing a son he loved so much. As the poem is set out in couplets like a prayer, it makes the death of the son sound more real, it also makes the reader feel like they are saying the lament to the boy themselves. This helps them understand Jonson’s grief.

Credits Thanks to Samantha Murphy Martina Andonova Alice Slater Tyrone D’Souza Hassan Younis