Heaven's Due: A Comparison of Ben Jonson’s

On My First Daughter and On My First Son

by

Michael Vance

“Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy . . .”

Ben Jonson, “On My First Son”

Born the posthumous son of a clergyman on June 11, 1572, Ben Jonson became one of the most colorful literary figures of his time. In 1597, while working as an actor and playwright, he was imprisoned for sedition for his part in a satire entitled, The Isle of Dogs”. The following year, he killed fellow actor Gabriel Spencer in a duel. Only by pleading “Benefit of Clergy” was Jonson able to avoid the sentence of death. In 1598, Jonson’s first success, Every Man in his Humour, debuted with fellow actor and playwright William Shakespeare appearing in the cast. He went on to write many plays and poems and in later years, to write Masques for the royal court and serve as royal historian. His public feuds with notables of his age were infamous. As William Drummond described Jonson in 1619, "He is a great lover and praiser of himself, a contemnor and Scorner of others, given rather to loose a friend than a jest, jealous of every word and action of those about him (especially after drink), which is one of the elements in which he liveth, a dissembler of ill parts which raigne in him, a bragger of some good that he wanteth...." 

Despite his rough demeanor and raucous relations with others, Jonson was an accomplished poet.  Jonson wrote a poem after the loss of a daughter and another after the loss of a son.  Both poems are very touching and describe the author’s grief at these tragic events. Nevertheless, the poems are fundamentally different from each other in terms of the author’s depth of perceived loss from each death.

It’s evident in reading On My First Daughter, that although his daughter’s death was a painful experience, Jonson found some degree of comfort in the idea that his daughter was returning to heaven. He clearly states these feelings when he writes; “Yet all heaven’s gifts being heaven’s due, It makes the father less to rue.” He is expressing here gratitude for the brief time he had with her; and furthermore, he is accepting the fact that he had to return her. 

In the poem, On My First Son, Jonson states similar views of life being a gift from God. As he writes “ Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay, exacted by thy fate, on the just day.”  In this passage, Jonson again expresses the idea that his time with his son was a gift. However, he does not sound grateful for the precious time he was able to spend with this boy, nor does he seem comforted by the idea that his son will be in heaven. In fact, he seems desperate and disillusioned, as if he has given up on his own life. In the first line of this poem,  “Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;” he is not only saying goodbye to his son, he is saying goodbye to his happiness as well. He can’t conceive himself as being happy without his son. His hopes and dreams died with his son, “My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy…” He further referred to his son as, “…his best piece of poetry.’”

On My First Daughter also describes his pain. However, he seems to share this anguish with his wife.  The fist line of this poem, “Here lies, to each her parents’ ruth…” is quite different from  “…my right hand…” The loss Jonson expresses in regards to his son is a lonely one. In the ode to his son’s passing, he does not divide his grief with the child’s mother. Throughout this work, Jonson makes no reference to any person other than himself and his late son.

To be fair to the author, it must be remembered that his daughter died at the age of six months during a period of human history in which less than 50% of children lived to see their first birthdays. It may be that he had not attached himself to her very much. His son on the other hand, lived up to the day of his seventh year. He might well have been expected to outlive his father at that point, magnifying the loss immensely.