Literary Analysis of British Poetry to 1660

1          Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;

2          My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.

3          Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,

4          Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.

5          Oh, could I lose all father now! For why

6          Will man lament the state he should envy?

7          To have so soon "scaped world"s and flesh"s rage,

8          And if no other misery, yet age!

9          Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie

10        Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,

11        For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such

12        As what he loves may never like too much."

Who is the speaker of this poem?

1          Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;

2          My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.
3          Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
4          Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.

5          Oh, could I lose all father now! For why

6          Will man lament the state he should envy?

7          To have so soon "scaped world"s and flesh"s rage,

8          And if no other misery, yet age!

9          Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie

10        Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,

11        For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such

12        As what he loves may never like too much."

"Seven years thou wert lent to me," (line 3), very likely tells the reader what?

1          Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;

2          My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.

3          Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,

4          Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.

5          Oh, could I lose all father now! For why

6          Will man lament the state he should envy?

7          To have so soon "scaped world"s and flesh"s rage,

8          And if no other misery, yet age!

9          Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie

10        Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,

11        For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such

12        As what he loves may never like too much."

In which line is there a strong lending metaphor?

1          Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;

2          My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.

3          Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,

4          Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.

5          Oh, could I lose all father now! For why

6          Will man lament the state he should envy?

7          To have so soon "scaped world"s and flesh"s rage,

8          And if no other misery, yet age!

9          Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie

10        Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,

11        For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such

12        As what he loves may never like too much."

In which of the following lines might it be said that the speaker speaks favorably about his son"s death?

1          Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;

2          My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.

3          Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,

4          Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.

5          Oh, could I lose all father now! For why

6          Will man lament the state he should envy?

7          To have so soon "scaped world"s and flesh"s rage,

8          And if no other misery, yet age!

9          Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie

10        Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,

11        For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such

12        As what he loves may never like too much."

In lines 9–10, "Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie/Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,"" the speaker refers to his dead son as a "piece of poetry."  This is an example of __________.

1          Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;

2          My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.

3          Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,

4          Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.

5          Oh, could I lose all father now! For why

6          Will man lament the state he should envy?

7          To have so soon "scaped world"s and flesh"s rage,

8          And if no other misery, yet age!

9          Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie

10        Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,

11        For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such

12        As what he loves may never like too much."

In lines 11–12, "For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such / As what he loves may never like too much," what is the speaker saying about his future vows?

1          Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy;

2          My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.

3          Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,

4          Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.

5          Oh, could I lose all father now! For why

6          Will man lament the state he should envy?

7          To have so soon "scaped world"s and flesh"s rage,

8          And if no other misery, yet age!

9          Rest in soft peace, and, asked, say, "Here doth lie

10        Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,

11        For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such

12        As what he loves may never like too much."

Which line seems to link the speaker"s love for his son with the boy"s death?

Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear
1   Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear,
2   Thy dial how thy precious minutes waste;
3   The vacant leaves thy mind’s impr"nt will bear,
4   And of this book this learning mayst thou taste:
5   The wrinkles which thy glass will truly show
6   Of mouthèd graves will give thee memory;
7  Thou by thy dial’s shady stealth mayst know
8   Time’s thievish progress to eternity.
9  Look what thy memory cannot contain,
10 Commit to these waste blanks, and thou shalt find
11 Those children nursed, delivered from thy brain,
12 To take a new acquaintance of thy mind.
13 These offices, so oft as thou wilt look,
14 Shall profit thee and much enrich thy book.
                                                         (1609)

To what does “mouthèd graves” (line 6) refer?

Not marble nor the gilded Monuments
1   Not marble nor the gilded monuments
2   Of princes shall outlive this pow"rful rhyme,
3   But you shall shine more bright in these conténts
4   Than unswept stone, besmeared with sluttish time.
5  When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
6   And broils root out the work of masonry,
7   Nor Mars his sword, nor war’s quick fire, shall burn
8   The living record of your memory.
9   "Gainst death and all oblivious enmity
10  Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room
11  Even in the eyes of all posterity
12  That wear this world out to the ending doom.
13  So till the judgment that yourself arise,
14  You live in this, and dwell in lovers" eyes.                                                    
                                                       (1609)

From “You live in this, and dwell in lovers’ eyes” (line 14), who are most likely the lovers?

O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem
1  O, how much more doth beauty beauteous seem, 

2  By that sweet ornament which truth doth give.

3   The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem 

4  For that sweet odour which doth in it live. 

5   The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye 

6   As the perfumed tincture of the roses, 

7   Hang on such thorns and play as wantonly,
8   When summer"s breath their masked buds discloses;
9   But, for their virtue only is their show, 

10 They live unwoo"d and unrespected fade, 

11 Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so; 

12 Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odours made.  
13 And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth,
   
14 When that shall fade, my verse distills your truth.
                                                                  (1609)

“When summer’s breath their masked buds discloses” (line 8) is an example of ___________.