Based on your reading of “On My First Son,” whom can you hypothesize is the speaker of this poem? Explain why your answer choice is correct.a. Ben Jonsonb. a ministerc. a fatherd. a son

Answer:

c. a father. The speaker mourns the death of his “first son,” calls the child “my loved boy,” and describes the seven years that the child was “lent” to him. These details show that the speaker is the boy’s father. (Historically, the poem was written by Ben Jonson, but the speaker within the poem is a grieving father.)