On My First Daughter And On My First Son Essays - Literature

On My First Daughter And On My First Son Kimberly A. Samuels When comparing two poems, several aspects need to be considered. Speaker and tone, subject, figurative language, and imagery are these aspects. When comparing and contrasting Ben Jonson's two poems: ?on my first daughter? and ?on my first son? it is these aspects that have to be considered. These poems contain many of these aspects and they are both very similar and very at the same time. The subject of both poems is the reaction a parent has to their child's death, although ?on my first daughter? is about a girl and ?on my first son? is about a boy. The speaker in ?On my first daughter? is an unknown person talking about two parents. In ?On my first son? the speaker is the parent himself. The two poems are very similar in that they are about the death of a child, and how that death if affecting each parent. Both poems also contain figurative language. ?On my first daughter? uses several metaphors. She was the ?daughter of their youth?, and a gift from heaven. ?On my first son? also uses metaphors when the boy is described as his fathers ?best piece of poetry?. The tone and language are also very similar in both poems, yet the tone in ?on my first son? is slightly different. In ?On my first daughter?, the tone says that the parents are deeply upset about the loss of their daughter. She lies dead ?to both her parents ruth? and her mothers' tears must be comforted, because she was so innocent. Although the tone in ?On my first son? also says that the father is upset with his son's death, it also portrays that the father is having doubts about being upset. When he says ?for why will man lament the state he should envy? shows that the father knows his son is in a better place and that he should cry but envy him, and be proud because his son was his ?best piece of poetry. In conclusion, while both poems are very similar in the aspects of subject, and figurative language, the tone is what differentiates them because although both poems possess a tone that says the parents are grieving about their child's death, the second poem changes at the end, and almost comes to a tone that is understanding on the fathers part, so even though all these aspects are attributed to making these poems so similar, they also make these poems, with a similar subject, very different. Poetry and Poets