The poem by Ben Johnson is based upon the writers anguish towards his sons death.
“On my First son” is written almost a lot like Shakespeare’s writing as it contains language of the Elizabethan era such as “Seven years tho’ wert lent to me, and I thee pay”. I can also translate this to modern English, “He should have only lived seven years, but lived longer and now I have to pay.
Throughout the play the Narrator or Father is grieving the loss if his son who had possibly been suffering from a terminal illness.
December 9, 2015 at 3:57 pm
Ben Johnson lived at a very similar time to Shakespeare, so it makes sense that their language is similar – you’ll want to be a lot more specific about what language effects they have in common though – similar metaphors, similar ideas about death, similar use of iambic pentameter…
You show understanding of the different pieces, but a limited analysis of their language.
CW