Comparing Mid Term Break and Om my first Sonne Essay

1) What do we learn about children who have died? â€Å"For the first time in six weeks. paler now,† Those they leave behind them mourn them. The poets parents found it more difficult then Seamus because he didn’t know his brother that much, he had a distanced relationship. â€Å"Snow drops and candles† shows the compassion of the event, he does this by good use of symbolism. He used the snow drops to show that he died in peace as they are white and innocent like his brother. â€Å"A four foot box, a foot for every year† Only now does Seamus realize that he will only have the memory of his brother. â€Å"Wearing a poppy bruise on his left temple.† Poppies are commonly used to portray the violent, tragic death of a young person, in this case his younger brother. We also know that he got hit by a car so hard that it killed him â€Å"the bumper knocked him clear.† We know that he died on his 7th birthday, â€Å"seven years tho’ were lent to me.† No matter how protective parents are over their children there are greater forces that can determine the faith of the children that are out of the parents hands. â€Å"scap’d worlds, and fleshes rage† Jonson is telling the reader that his son has now left the real world and doesn’t have to deal with any awful things that you might come across in your lifetime. 2) What do we learn about feelings of the writers? Seamus doesn’t express any of his own feeling, Only feelings of others; Big Jim Evans to feel that the car incident to be a â€Å"hard blow†. On a literal level, it shows of the impact of car hitting the little brother whereas metaphorically, the incident could also show the emotional blow. He says â€Å"For the first time in six weeks. Paler now,† This indicates that Seamus didn’t have such a close relationship with his brother. It also suggests that the poet only had the fleeting memory of his brother as a baby and hardly ever sees him, therefore contributing largely to the fact that the poet was not grieving over his death because of their distanced relationship or because he hast come to terms with his brothers death. Mid-Term Break the family cannot accept the death. They feel that it is unjust, as the child was so young and innocent. This poem starts talking about the death using â€Å"farewell†. This hints that he is saying good-bye to his son and this is his way of letting him go. Ben Jonson uses faith to help him through the bereavement. Biblical phrases like â€Å"child of my right hand†, â€Å"my sinne was† are scattered through the text. The poet’s feelings were uncertain with doubts and sorrow. â€Å"O, could I loose all father now.† By using conditionals suggests that he is questioning his faith as he doesn’t understand why God would take away his loves one. â€Å"My sin too much hope for thee, loved boy.† Jonson doesn’t want to have any more children as the pain of losing them is overwhelming. 3) How have the writers expressed their feelings? Seamus Heaney uses indirect ways to portray grief, by describing events that happen after the death. Heaney doesn’t talk or write about how he feels, he writes about what he sees and remembers. He is keeping his emotions silent. His writing is detached because he expresses no emotion himself, and if he does it is understated and under layers of what he says. He is confused about his brothers death and reports the poem like an outsider. Alternatively, he may write like an outsider because its so tragic and he cant express his own feelings because he wont be able to come to terms with it. Ben Jonson writes On My First Sonne from a father’s point of view grieving over the death of his very young son. He uses the Iambic Pentameter which reflects the sound of a heart beat. He does this because it’s the first and last thing a human hears, this links to the birth and death of his short lived son. He also used a rhetorical question â€Å"he should envie?† He states that he is jealous of his son, because now he is closer to god in heaven. He indicates that he is a religious man. His sons death has made him question his faith which used to be so strong. The son, sitting on the right hand of his father, would remind a Christian reader of the Creed, in which the Son ‘sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.’