In “On My First Son,” the speaker tries to comfort himself over the loss of his son. Why does he suggest that his son’s death is a “state he should envy” (line 6)? Support your answer with one other line from the poem.

Answer:

He calls his son’s death a state he should envy because the boy died before facing the suffering, temptations, and aging that come with life. The speaker says that his son has “so soon ’scaped world’s and flesh’s rage,” meaning he was spared the world’s troubles and the weaknesses of the human body.