Bearing the loss of a child weighs heavily on a person but in Jonson’s comparative poems, “On My First Daughter” and “On My First Son”, one loss burdens a father’s soul more. Ben Jonson uses his talent for poem writing to portray the difficult feelings of a parent losing not one but two of their children. These two poems compare the differences and showcase the similarities when it comes to parents losing children. Using perfectly placed devices the author is able to set the mood and make a statement on these tragic events. Jonson compares the pain of losing a son of seven years to the pain of losing his six month old daughter.
Jonson’s first of the two poems is titled “On My First Daughter”, it recounts the tragedy he and his wife encountered …show more content…
Although both children were young when they died Jonson’s son has seven years to demonstrate all the intricacies of an individual which moves him beyond a simple innocent child. At the age of seven the son would have sculpted his own personality, character, as well as his own future and the grief of losing all that potential is what truly makes the son’s death worse for Jonson as compared to his lost sister. The son’s growth felt like a prime from heaven, a promise of an individual destined for a future of hope. However the son’s life was abruptly cut short as heaven once again unjustly stole away the life of yet another Jonson child. The diction in lines 3 and 4, “Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay. Exacted by thy fate, on the just day,” draws a correlating line to the theme of heaven sending children to the world but unlike the daughter’s poem these lines feel angry. Juxtaposing the poem, “On My First Daughter,” where Ben Jonson is able to speak for not only himself but his wife this poem only holds words referring to himself. This word choice symbolizes the true pain Jonson is experiencing as he cannot even begin to speak for his wife’s grief. Both poems mention the phrase “father,” this refers to the Holy Father—God. Jonson states in his son’s poem, “O could I lose all father now?,” this alludes to the fact that after losing his son he is also losing his faith in heaven’s reasoning with lending out children and requiring them back (Jonson ll.5). “On My First Son” is expertly written allowing readers to understand a small amount of the pain that comes with the death of a child, analyses of this poem claims, “The complexity and pathos of the poem are the products of the failure of the paternal metaphors that structure Jonson’s neoclassical poetics,”and he does this, “by linking natural, social, aesthetic, and metaphysical orders through governing
Jonson’s first of the two poems is titled “On My First Daughter”, it recounts the tragedy he and his wife encountered …show more content…
Although both children were young when they died Jonson’s son has seven years to demonstrate all the intricacies of an individual which moves him beyond a simple innocent child. At the age of seven the son would have sculpted his own personality, character, as well as his own future and the grief of losing all that potential is what truly makes the son’s death worse for Jonson as compared to his lost sister. The son’s growth felt like a prime from heaven, a promise of an individual destined for a future of hope. However the son’s life was abruptly cut short as heaven once again unjustly stole away the life of yet another Jonson child. The diction in lines 3 and 4, “Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay. Exacted by thy fate, on the just day,” draws a correlating line to the theme of heaven sending children to the world but unlike the daughter’s poem these lines feel angry. Juxtaposing the poem, “On My First Daughter,” where Ben Jonson is able to speak for not only himself but his wife this poem only holds words referring to himself. This word choice symbolizes the true pain Jonson is experiencing as he cannot even begin to speak for his wife’s grief. Both poems mention the phrase “father,” this refers to the Holy Father—God. Jonson states in his son’s poem, “O could I lose all father now?,” this alludes to the fact that after losing his son he is also losing his faith in heaven’s reasoning with lending out children and requiring them back (Jonson ll.5). “On My First Son” is expertly written allowing readers to understand a small amount of the pain that comes with the death of a child, analyses of this poem claims, “The complexity and pathos of the poem are the products of the failure of the paternal metaphors that structure Jonson’s neoclassical poetics,”and he does this, “by linking natural, social, aesthetic, and metaphysical orders through governing