Ben Johnson's "On My First Son," is about the brief life of his son. From reading this poem we can tell that they were really close. Ben and his son Benjamin were such good friends that he wanted to make sure he had the world. He focused so much on all the things ... in poetry gives it a repetitive quality, allowing it to gain a songlike quality, and it is often used to make the poems easier to remember. The emotive vocabulary shows Ben's emotions and how he is feeling. By reading the poem we can tell that he has a lot of anger, having lost his son, when he said "flesh's ... someone that know...

• Word Count: 1007
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Born in London in 1573, Ben Johnson would be no stranger to tragedy. His Protestant father--who had been imprisoned and deprived of his estate during the Catholic ... to marry a bricklayer. But despite these tragic beginnings, it was for his humor that Ben Johnson would be known. At Westminster school, the scholar Camden recognized Johnson's exceptional literary gifts and took the young man under his tutelage. Though Johnson never received a university education, Camden's instruction proved more than adequate. He became one of ... the most learned men of Elizabethan times and eventually re...

• Word Count: 633
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

... and explanation in times of trial and tribulation. These complex times have often become the focus of numerous poets through the ages. William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 130" and "Sonnet 138," and Ben Johnson's "On My First Son" are some of the many poems that reflect how as humans we must deal with emotionally complicated situations in our relationships with others. In a relationship, trust ... second couplet, Jonson shows his initial feelings, regret for being a father, by saying "Seven years thou wert to me, and I thee pay, Exacted by they fate, on the just day" (Johnson line 3 764). Thes...

• Word Count: 981
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School