Elegy · Grief
On My First Son
by Ben Jonson · 1616
Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy,
My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy;
Seven years th' wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
O, could I lose all father now. 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?
Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say here doth lie
Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry;
For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such
As what he loves may never like too much.
Full-text availability follows the United States display decision recorded below; status can differ elsewhere.
“On My First Son” by Ben Jonson — quilloak.com/poems/on-my-first-son
Quick facts
- Poem
- On My First Son
- Poet
- Ben Jonson
- Published
- 1616
- Length
- 12 lines
- Form
- Elegy, Epigram
- Themes
- Grief, Death & Loss, Family
Craft notes
How this poem works
Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.
- Shape
- 12 lines · one 12-line stanza
- Line length
- Mostly 10-syllable lines (pentameter length).
Want the rules this form is measured against? Read what makes a elegy, or run your own draft through the form checker to see the same measurements on your lines. How we measure · Report a mistake
Text, source & rights
A traceable edition
Full-text display is based on the cited edition and a United States term-expiry review.
- Author record
- Ben Jonson1572–1637
- Source record
- WikisourceOn My First Son by ben-jonson, Wikisource transcription
- Display decision
- Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
- Publication record
- 1616
- Text fingerprint
- SHA-256 aadeb74ef9ab2e4b…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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