Read the following lines from jonson’s “on my first son” and interpret their meaning. oh! could i lose all father, now! for why, will man lament the state he should envy?

Ben Jonson’s son died at the tender age of 7. In the first stanza of the poem, Jonson expresses his immense grief at the death of his son. He says that he loved him so much that it was almost a sin. The quoted line, “Oh! could I lose all father, now! for why,” heightens Jonson’s grief over burying his own child. It echoes the loss of his identity as a father. In fact, he says that he would rather lose his fatherhood than suffer the sorrows it brings. In the next line, “Will man lament the state he should envy?” Jonson presents death as a state that humans should envy because it keeps them away from the miseries of living.

(PLATO sample)

wordsworth tends to see nature as 'out there'; a presence which surrounds humans, and contributes to human life, but is different from humans. if you look at a typical wordsworth poem (there was a boy, ye knew him well ye rocks) - wordsworth talks about nature as something that needs to be learned about and understood, nature is different from us.  

if you look at a byron poem (the isles of greece is a good one) - byron looks at nature mainly for what it already means to man. wordsworth will look at a landscape and see the mountains, trees, valleys, and rivers as almost spiritual presences - wordsworth wants to get to know nature.  

byron will look at the same landscape and he will want to know who lives there, what are the villages? are there any farms or mines, is there some history?  

wordsworth looks at nature for what it is; byron is forever asking what it means.  

wordsworth thinks that humans are part of nature; byron thinks that nature is part of being human

a omg *hides wit stranger*