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    A Study Guide for Ben Jonson's "On My First Son"
    A Study Guide for Ben Jonson's "On My First Son"
    A Study Guide for Ben Jonson's "On My First Son"
    Ebook31 pages23 minutes

    A Study Guide for Ben Jonson's "On My First Son"

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    A Study Guide for Ben Jonson's "On My First Son," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateSep 2, 2016
    ISBN9781535830089
    A Study Guide for Ben Jonson's "On My First Son"

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      A Study Guide for Ben Jonson's "On My First Son" - Gale

      10

      On My First Son

      Ben Jonson

      1616

      Introduction

      The English author Ben Jonson was one of the most well-respected and popular writers of his day. Best known for dramas such as Every Man in His Humour and Volpone; or The Fox, Jonson also wrote a significant body of sophisticated and intelligent poetry, including his 1616 folio Epigrams. Included in this volume are two of Jonson's most well-known poems, On My First Daughter and On My First Son, epitaphs for two of Jonson's children who died in childhood. Jonson wrote On My First Son in 1603, the year King James VI of Scotland ascended to the English throne as James I, and the year that the plague made a return visit to England, killing thousands of Londoners, including Jonson's first son, Benjamin. The short poem is poignant in the grief and sense of loss Jonson expresses. At the same time, however, it is also a statement of Christian consolation; Jonson has faith that his son is in a better place than in the earthly realm. Although first published over 400 years ago, Jonson's poem is still widely available in many anthologies such as English Renaissance Poetry (1990), edited by John Williams and published by the University of Arkansas Press. Moreover, although Jonson wrote the poem in a very different time and place, the sentiment expressed in On My First Son remains just as compelling in the twenty-first century as it did in England in the seventeenth century.

      Author Biography

      Jonson was born around June 11, 1572, near London, England, a month after his father's death. Jonson's father had lost his property under the reign of Queen Mary, and was imprisoned. Jonson's mother later married a bricklayer.

      Although poor, Jonson attended St. Martin's Parish School, and subsequently was a student at Westminster School, studying under William Camden, well-known in his time as an antiquarian. This relationship proved to be an influential one for Jonson, who later

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