FREE ESSAY ON ON MY FIRST DAUGHTER AND ON MY FIRST SON

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.