Question

Read the following lines from Jonson’s “On My First Son” and interpret their meaning. Oh! could I lose all father, now! for why, Will man lament the state he should envy?

Answer 1

The poem was written by Ben Jonson in the 1600s and the poem speaks about his pain towards the death of his son. The first line stated is directly conveying the anguish that he feels towards the loss. It is an inexplicable pain a father feels deep down in his core to lose someone very dear to him. Among all the poems Jonson wrote, this is very different and more touching.

Answer 2

Ben Jonson’s son died at the tender age of 7. In the first stanza of the poem, Jonson expresses his immense grief at the death of his son. He says that he loved him so much that it was almost a sin. The quoted line, “Oh! could I lose all father, now! for why,” heightens Jonson’s grief over burying his own child. It echoes the loss of his identity as a father. In fact, he says that he would rather lose his fatherhood than suffer the sorrows it brings. In the next line, “Will man lament the state he should envy?” Jonson presents death as a state that humans should envy because it keeps them away from the miseries of living.

(PLATO sample)