– ‘Come live with me, my love, and we will travel the world together. I will give you all the gifts the world has to offer; young boys will sing and dance, delighting in our love. If this sounds good, come and be with me.’
– Reply to the ‘Passionate Shepherd.’
– ‘If the world was actually a perfect place, then maybe I would come and live with you; however, I know that time changes nature, wealth, and feelings. Love will fade, and bitterness will come out. Maybe, if time didn’t change and love stayed the same, I would be with you.’
– Ben Jonson mourning the death of his son.
1. He expected too much of his son; he hoped for too much good in his life.
2. God gave him a loan (his son) for 7 years, and now he’s paid it back by giving back up his son in death. Life is not ours, and God is in control.
3. Ben Jonson is glad his son escaped all the bad of the world.
4. He shall never love anything more than his son for the rest of his life.
5. He compared his son to his poetry; his son is his best creation; he died along with his son.
– God is always with you no matter what, even in death.
– Everyone, you and your worst enemies included, is reconciled in God’s house.
– You are the son of God, and even though you mess up, God will always love, forgive, and take you back into his arms.
– Younger Son: humanity; we always sin and run from God.
– Swineherd: the bottom of the pit; the lowest point in life.
– Elder Son: “Godly” Christians. People who don’t think other “lowly” people deserve to be helped and given second chances.
– Speaker talks about lost talents, abilities, power, riches, hope, and friends.
– Turn occurs in Line 9, where the speaker remembers someone close to him, someone he loves.
– This makes him more positive and happy.
– He talks about comparing himself to a Lark singing to heaven’s gate. He’s happier, and this is a description of joy.
– Speaker remembers death, friend’s dying, and time lost.
– He remembers good times of the past with his love and friends.
– Turn occurs in Line 13, where he suddenly gets happy.
– Speaker uses numerous metaphors within the poem.
– Speaker tells his love to forget him, move on, and to find someone else.
– He doesn’t want her to be sad after he’s gone; he doesn’t want people to think she’s dumb for mourning his death when she’s so young and could easily find someone new.
– He uses alliteration throughout the poem: “… you shall hear the surly sullen bell.”
– He calls the world wise, which is ironic, considering the world keeps prying into his love’s grief, bringing it back up to the surface, which is not wise at all when she’s trying to move on.
– The world mocks the speaker, even after he is dead and gone.
– Metaphors are used to describe the steadiness and finality of love: “Love’s not Time’s fool”/”It is an ever-fixed mark.”/”It is the star to every wandering bark.”
– Love doesn’t change itself or others; it does not change over time; it stays the same.
– Time is personified as someone who takes beauty and youth away.
– Line 13 shifts into a tone of “if this is wrong, then I don’t ever wanna be right.”
– No matter the age, young or old, love is the same for everyone; it never changes.
– We may die, but death does not conquer us, as we wake up shortly after to the afterlife.
– Tone of the poem is mocking/defiant to death.
– Petrarchan Sonnet because of the rhyme scheme being used (abba abba cddcef).
– Death shouldn’t be proud, for it can not truly kill us.