Loss of Loved Ones, Ben Johnson

Johnson seems to understand that his daughter was a gift from God and god gifts “bring heavens due”. Being that she only lived for six months doesn’t make it easier because it was his first daughter but if she had lived enough for her to take part in this corrupt world it would have been harder for him to deal with. The fact that his daughter left this earth peacefully and pure, is what gives this poem the feeling of healthy mourning and hope. His optimism could also be denial and that h

In Ben Johnson’s Poem “On My First Son” it is clear that his tone is angry and bitter, much different from “On My First Daughter. Johnson lost his first son at the age of seven, “seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay, Exacted by thy fate, on the just day”. You can feel his anger and grief from the lines “To have so soon ‘scaped world’s and flesh’s rage, and, if no other misery, yet age?” Johnson was obviously not as content when he lost this child and felt as if he was ripped and torn from this earth and from him.

After reading each poem I get the sense that Johnson wrote On My First Daughter a few months after she died, and he wrote On My First Son the day he passed away. My reason for thinking this is because I think parent’s true feelings after a child’s death are shown truly right after their child dies.

When you read On My First Daughter it feels as if it didn’t come as a shock to him, almost as if he was prepared for it. You don’t get that composed feeling when you read this poem. Not to say that it was easier to loose a daughter then a

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