On My First Daughter
HERE lies, to each her parents’ ruth,Mary, the daughter of their youth;Yet, all heaven’s gifts, being heaven’s due,It makes the father less to rue.At six months’ end, she parted hence,With safety of her innocence;Whose soul heaven’s queen, whose name she bears,In comfort of her mother’s tears,Hath placed amongst her virgin-train;Where, while that severed doth remain,This grave partakes the fleshly birth;Which cover lightly, gentle earth!
Words in this poem
- ruth n.
- Sorrow for the misery of another; pity; tenderness. [From Rue, v.: cf. Icel. hryggedh, hrygedh.]
- amongst prep.
- Mixed or mingled; surrounded by. [OE. amongist, amonges, amonge, among, AS. onmang, ongemang, gemang, in a crowd or mixture. For the ending -st see Amidst. See Mingle.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
On My First Daughter is in the public domain. This text is taken from Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter and Some Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #5134; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ben Jonson, On My First Daughter, in Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter and Some Poems (1616), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5134, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/jonson-poems/on-my-first-daughter.html, id L23798.
Form and metre
On My First Daughter is 12 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDDEEFF ruthA · youthA · dueB · rueB · henceC · innocenceC · bearsD · tearsD · trainE · remainE · birthF · earthF
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| HERE lies, to each her parents’ ruth, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Mary, the daughter of their youth; | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Yet, all heaven’s gifts, being heaven’s due, | 9 | ··/˘·//˘· |
| It makes the father less to rue. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| At six months’ end, she parted hence, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With safety of her innocence; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Whose soul heaven’s queen, whose name she bears, | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| In comfort of her mother’s tears, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Hath placed amongst her virgin-train; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Where, while that severed doth remain, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| This grave partakes the fleshly birth; | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| Which cover lightly, gentle earth! | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.