Jonson’s sorrowful tone in the poem is expressed in the irony of the line, “my sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.” One senses Jonson's acceptance of the death, despite the state of grievance, he realizes that his son was only on loan to him and his death was therefore inevitable. Even though Jonson knew that his son’s life would be short he loved him no lesser then he would a child who would live a fuller life. All the time and energy he exerted in the child’s seven years of life seemed wasted, which fueled his anger of death because it seemed as though fate picked a day for his child to die and he could do nothing to stop it. H

inting that he might have known about the child’s early fate and questioned his ability to still have a special bond with the child, Jonson seemed almost surprised. There lies the irony in Jonson’s poem, which exemplifies the sorrowful tone in his grievance for his child by making the reader realize the irony of his situation and making them share his pain.

In addition to the use of metaphor and irony, Jonson’s choice of words and phrases also exemplifies his sorrowful and grieving tone. Jonson chose to use the phrase “child of my right hand,” in reference which significantly is the Hebrew translation for Benjamin, his son’s name. Instead of simply stating his son’s name Jonson chose to use this phrase with religoius meaning expressing Jonson’s belief in faith and his respect for his son. In additon he is such a sorrowful and grieving manner that he cannot even say his son’s name. Instead he must say “farewell” to his child using a metaphor. Terms such as “sin,” “exacted,” “lament,” “misery,” “rage,” “lent,” all show Jonson’s sorrowflul state of mind which then were expressed in his poem’s tone. “Lament” and “misery” are obivious meanings of sorrow, while “sin,” “exacted,” “rage,” and “lent” shows Jonson’s anger and grievance of his loss. These specific words that he chose were to express his sorrow and his grieving. Jons

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