Themes in Ben Jonson’s ’On My First Son’ and Heaney’s ’Elegy for A Still Born Child’

The success in the writing of a poem is founded on the ability to identify appropriate themes and the literary devices that allow the poet to sufficiently communicate with the target audience. Different topics will require the use of varying literary techniques and in the case of elegies, the need to express grief, praise the dead and offer solace requires that poets utilize writing aspects including metaphors, consonants, and meters to create interest among the readers. While elegies uniformly contain three sections; a show of grief, praise for the dead and provision of hope, the inherent themes, and use of literary devices vary from one work to another (Dafoe, 2014). This essay will compare the themes as well as the literary techniques such as metaphors, consonants, meters, and types of words used in two elegies; ‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson and ‘Elegy for a Still Born Child’ by Seamus Heaney.

Themes

Time is a central theme in the elegies ‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson and ‘Elegy for a Still Born Child’ by Seamus Heaney. In the case of the ‘Elegy for a Still Born Child’ by Seamus Heaney, the death occurred after six months as the author states that ‘for six months you stayed cartographer’ (Heaney, 2014). ‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson, on the other hand, featured the death of a seven-year-old son. However, while the time of the death is profound in the two elegies, Ben Jonson’s elegy is on a born son while Seamus Heaney’s work included the death of an unborn child. The question of whether the stillborn child should be considered as a person is evident as the author refers to the subject as ‘trussed-up weight of seed-flesh and bone-curd. The occurrence of death occur at different times and in the case of elegies, the grief, praise of the death and the provision of solace is deemed to be affected by time. The theme on time determined the praise to be made for the death in that, Seamus Heaney could only acknowledge the stillborn child for changing the husband towards a father and in the case of Ben Jonson; the son was a source of joy.

In the elegies ‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson and ‘Elegy for a Still Born Child’ by Seamus Heaney, death is a primary theme. The two elegies feature an explanation of death and the impacts on the emotional state of the bereaved. However, Ben Jonson and Seamus Heaney perceive death in different ways based on the assertions in the poems. While the elegies by Ben Jonson and Seamus Heaney lament and celebrate the people who died in the poems, Ben Jonson strives to ‘see’ the good in death as opposed to Seamus Heaney. Here, Ben Jonson states that ‘Will man lament the state he should envy?’ to assert that death could be an escape to a better place from a world which characterized by misery (Gale, 2016). Ben Jonson views the world and the human body which he explains as ‘flesh’ to be made of rage. Also, Ben Jonson includes the aging process which is a natural aspect of humanity as part of the miseries experienced when one is alive. Ben Jonson therefore ‘sees’ death as a ‘good’ thing that should be envied by the living people. On the other hand, Seamus Heaney depicts death as an undesired occurrence that takes away the happiness from humanity characterized by ‘lonely journeys’ and ‘phantom limb.’ Seamus Heaney ‘sees’ the day that people die as a ‘doomsday’ due to the undesired events that occur after death.

The elegies ‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson and ‘Elegy for a Still Born Child’ by Seamus Heaney are characterized by the theme of love. In the case of ‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson, the author expounds on the feelings he had towards his son. Ben Jonson explains the dead son as his ‘right hand,’ ‘you’ and a ‘lov’d boy’ to depict the magnitude of love. The assessment of the elegy by Ben Jonson indicates that the son who was the ‘right hand’ gave strength to the father. The grief in the elegy is as a result of the loss of a loved son. Seamus Heaney also explains the attachment developed by the parents of the stillborn child upon conception. The loss of a loved one led to the ‘reaching for a phantom limb’ and the driving by ‘remote control’ on a bare road by the parents. Here, it is evident that the parents had developed a love for the stillborn child and the ‘collapsed sphere’ brought forth grief to the loving father and mother. However, while Ben Jonson explains the love of a seven-year-old son, the feelings explained in the elegy by Seamus Heaney include those for an unborn child. The type of love in the two elegies can be deemed as different based on the fact that one involves a grown child while another one features the love of an unborn baby.

The theme of family is profound in the elegies ‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson and ‘Elegy for a Still Born Child’ by Seamus Heaney. The elegies by Ben Jonson and Seamus Heaney feature the death of children and in this case, the aspect of parenthood and the manner in which the ideas about parenting change after the death of a child. In the case of On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson, the narrator states that ‘O, could I lose all father now! For why’ to depict the alteration of the family structure that features a son and a father upon the death of the son. Here, the question of whether a person still remains a father after the death of the only child is brought forth. Seamus Heaney on the other hand talks of a ‘mother’ and the ‘charting my friend from husband towards father’ to assert the theme of family in the elegy. However, the experience of a stillborn child, the family structure is altered and the parents are ‘reaching for a phantom limb.’ From the assessment of the elegies by Seamus Heaney and Ben Jonson, the theme of family indicates that in the event of death, family structures are distorted and the parents are the most affected individuals.

 Also, the theme of hope is inherent in the elegies ‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson and ‘Elegy for a Still Born Child’ by Seamus Heaney. However, the sources of hope for the bereaved individuals in the two elegies are different. In the case of ‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson, the father consoles himself with the idea that death is an escape from the miseries in the world and hence, his son could be in a better place that should be envied. ‘Elegy for a Still Born Child’ by Seamus Heaney, on the other hand, depicts the possibility of conceiving other children as the solace upon the experience of a stillborn child. The narrator asserts on ‘past mountain fields full to the brim with cloud’ to indicate a sense of hope in the future of the parents.

Literary Techniques

The use of metaphor as a literacy technique is evident in the elegies ‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson and ‘Elegy for a Still Born Child’ by Seamus Heaney. In the case of ‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson, the poet utilizes metaphor by asserting that ‘my sin was too much hope of thee.’ Here, Ben Jonson compares sin with hope to depict how by holding hopes in the son has led to pain upon the death of the son. The analysis of Ben Jonson’s metaphor can be interpreted to imply the fact that sin from the religious context is deemed to lead to painful consequences and in the case of holding the hopes on the son, the outcome is pain experienced while grieving. In ‘Elegy for a Still Born Child’ by Seamus Heaney, the poet uses a metaphor by asserting that ‘For six months you stayed a cartographer’ to portray the unborn child as a map maker. As a map maker draws directions for people to move from one point to another, the stillborn child charts the transition of the life of the father to a father from a husband (Kisak, 2015).

Regarding the sound types, the elegies ‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson and ‘Elegy for a Still Born Child’ by Seamus Heaney used consonants at the different parts of the literary works. Ben Jonson uses plosives as in the case of the word joy, just, day, and best while in the case of Seamus Heaney, plosives used in the elegy include globe, burial, birth, drive, bare, drizzling and brim. The plosives consonants are used to portray strength, certainty or violence. Liquid consonants in the elegy ‘On My First Son’ include loved, lent, lament, rage, rest and like and in the ‘Elegy for a Still Born Child’ the given consonants encompassed light, limb, road, and rock. The liquid consonants in the elegies are associated with violence or calm as witnessed in the words used (Gale, 2016). Sibilants in the elegy ‘On My First Son’ featured in words such as sin, soon, should, sake, and ‘scap’d while in the ‘Elegy for a Still Born Child’ included small, shooting, scar and creel. Sibilant consonants communicate anger and in some instances calm. Nasal consonants used in ‘On My First Son’ featured in words including now, my, misery, and much while in the ‘Elegy for a Still Born Child’ included mother and mound. Nasals are deemed to have no associated (Gale, 2016). Fricative consonants in ‘On My First Son’ include farewell, fate, vows and thee while in ‘Elegy for a Still Born Child’ encompassed father, friend, and think. Fricatives are associated with calm.

A meter refers to a pattern of beats in literary works (Vuong, 2017). Meters are profound in the elegies ‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson and ‘Elegy for a Still Born Child’ by Seamus Heaney. In the case of ‘On My First Son’ meters include ‘best piece of poetry and an example in ‘Elegy for a Still Born Child’ include ‘… mountain fields full to the brim.’ The types of words used in the elegies ‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson and ‘Elegy for a Still Born Child’ by Seamus Heaney included nouns (friend, father, mother, son, scar, world), verbs (age, vow, lament, lent, envy), adjectives (shooting, circling), and adverbs. Also, prepositions (after, in, on), conjunctions (but, for, it), and determiners (many, the, a) were profound in the two elegies by Ben Jonson and Seamus Heaney.

Conclusion

The assessment of the elegies by ‘On My First Son’ by Ben Jonson and ‘Elegy for a Still Born Child’ by Seamus Heaney reflects that while themes can be common in two different works, differences occur due to the differences in time and context. Authors of different elegies will have varying perceptions regarding death as witnessed in the case of Ben Jonson and Seamus Heaney whereby, while Jonson views death as an escape from misery, Heaney views death as doom. Also, it is notable that different stylistic techniques, as well as the types of words, are utilized in elegies. The target audience and the message in an elegy can be deemed as the determining factor in the writing of the given literary works.

References

Dafoe, N. (2014). Writing creatively: a guided journal for using literary devices. Lanham, Maryland, Rowman & Littlefield.

Gale, C. L. (2016). A Study Guide for Ben Jonson’s “On My First Son”. Farmington Hills, Gale, Cengage Learning. http://public.eblib.com/choice/PublicFullRecord.aspx?p=5146933.

Heaney, S. (2014). Door into the dark: poems. [Place of publication not identified], Faber and Faber. http://rbdigital.oneclickdigital.com.

Kisak, P. F. (2015). Literary devices: all writers should know! [Place of publication not identified], Createspace Indep Pub.

Vuong, O. (2017). Forward Book of Poetry 2018. Faber & Faber, Limited.