I think you can link this with any one of several poems in the Anthology, but Catrin (because it's about the relationship between a parent and child) and Mid-Term break (because it's about the death of a child) seem the ones that you could talk most about.
For some help on the poems of Seamus Heaney, and a good Venn diagram showing links between his poems, try http://62.8.97.161/images/587-T2.pdf.
Both Johnson and Heaney really make me understand how terrible it is when the person who has died is a child. Although Johnson tries to come to terms with the death, suggesting that he son was only "lent" to him, and that he is lucky to have "scaped worlds and fleshes rage", meaning that his son has not had to deal with all the awful things that can happen to somebody during a lifetime, he is clearly devastated.
He says that his son was his "best piece of poetrie" and for a famous poet, presumably proud of his poems, this says it all. When he hopes that his son rests in "soft peace", I can see that he loved him. The word "soft" implies gentleness and quiet and I imagine his son asleep under a silk sheet.
Heaney creates a similar image in Mid term Break, when he talks about the snowdrops and candles, which "soothed" the bedside. To soothe somebody is to calm them and care for them, and again, I have this picture of a child asleep under a white sheet. The fact that the only sign that he has been hurt is the "poppy bruise" (another reference to flowers) on his temple, makes it seem even more likely that he is only asleep, not really dead.
However, it is the last line of the poem which really does for me every time.It makes the death so final, standing as a line all by itself at the end of the poem, "A four foot box, a foot for every year". It's such a poignant image - that small coffin - bringing it home to the reader that this was a very, very young child.
8 comments:
First comment i win. OK now we can obviously point out how death effects everyone and compare it to poems such as catrin etc, but i see more of a kinda of longing for them to be back in on my first sonne, as in him wanting his son back. Dare i even compare it to Island man? Island man longs for his... island, and he wake up to the sound of the waves everyday, showing he misses it greatly as do the poets mis their lost ones. In the mix. Peow
I have been reading through most of the poems, and i too would compare the two poems "my first sonnet" and "mid- term break". Because both have a special connection between relationships, and love. The mid- term break describes that when we are away from our loved ones, we get separated from them and feel this sorrow that almost leave us standing in one place numb- like. Heaney seems like a poet who expresses regret. Because where he/she has mentioned "a four foot box, a foot for every year", this describes the regret that the child was only four and this was unfair with the play of God.
In contrast when we compare my first sonnet, it brings up the the word love between two people, a special feeling. Even in this poem i see a regretful touch when the poet has mentioned "And, if no other miserie, yet age?" It is like an epitaph. This describes a thought of the way God works towards mankind. We don't realize such things that we deserved the love until they leave us or in other word be taken away. We are lent and the loan is then paid back. Life becomes complicated after such incidents pass our lives.
K. Khan
Ben Jonson starts of the poem with the word "Farewell" and we immediately get the theme of the poem.
In the poem, he describes his son to be "lent to me" or him by God, making him sound precious and a high ranking gift. By the end of the poem he realises that the debt has to be paid back and he really didn't want to pay back this loan that he took because it was the best thing that ever happened to him "his best piece of poetrie". This is an example of an extended metaphor.
I would compare this poem with Mid-Term Break because they are both describing deaths of people from their families, although I sort of feel that Mid-Term Break has more of an effect personally of on me because i lost a cousin at the tender age of 1 and like maddam said the last line is like the bomb that drops and shivers run down my spine, every time I read it because it suddenly dawns on you how young this child really was, "A four foot box, a foot for every year." Also if you didn't get the point of the poem before, this would be the perfect line that would help it dawn on you.
Furthermore, the last word on the sixth stanza "Snowdrops" helps describe the feelings this child is having s he enters the room. Later on in that stanza, he describes seeing him and this makes his feelings even clearer, seeing him so pale "For the first time in six weeks." Again from personal experience, seeing a person so still and motionless, is bad enough and the paleness sort of makes it even worse, remembering how fun and cheerful a person was before, that motionless almost annoys you in a sense and you expect the person to suddenly get up and act the way they used to...
THE END! (sorry for the long essay!!)
I believe that in comparison "on my first sonne" is alot more emotive and intense than "mid-Term break"
It seems that Jonson is going more inside himself and asking questions as to why his beloved son died.
"If no other miserie, yet age"
Whereas in "mid-Term break" you can see that Heany was young becuase he only describes the room, the situation and the people around him not once does he mention how he feels, this could be taken as a sign of young age and not quite fully understanding whats going on around him. His age seems especially evident at one point in the poem
"At two o'clock our neighbours drove me home" it almost seems as he's in a daise.
laura.
In the poem ‘On my first Sonne’ Johnson is clearly deeply saddened. We can tell this because he is trying to make excuses for his son's death so that he can blame it on himself and therefore feel satisfied by saying his son was just a loan he had to pay back. Yet deep down he wants his son back as he emphasised the point that the boy was still so young and that he was his ‘best piece of poetrie’.
There are quite a few differences between On my first Sonne and Mid term Break which make for good comparison. The most obvious one, as has been mentioned, is the fact that Heaney is young at the time of the poem and speaks through a child’s mind while Johnson is a mature father who just lost his most precious treasure. Each of them will feel different attitudes towards the death. Hence Johnson speaks about the feelings inside him while Heaney describes just the setting though this also has emotion in it if you read between the lines enough (0)v(0). Also there is the time difference which can be seen by the language. But as time has progressed do we feel different now when a loved one dies than we used to?
Pow Pow!
The poem on my first sonne is a very heart felt and emotional poem, 'what he loves...fleshes rage'.
It is also very religious with many connections to God and religious like terms 'my sinne' this quote refers to the poet's love for his son,he believes it was a sinne to love him too much and now he has gone. The poet may also be saying that he blames himself for what happened.
He also says that his son was 'lent' to him. This makes me thnk that maybe the poet feels that his son was lent to him by God and now it is time to give back what he was lent. This may also be a way for the peot to see the situation from a different angle to maybe numb the pain a little.
He refers to his sone as his 'best piece of poetrie'. A poet's poems are very special to them and the poet could be saying that his son was like his poems, special and sacred. To me, it also suggests that maybe his child was his work and his life, his inspiraiotn for his poems.
As others have said, the poem is summed up in the very first word 'farewell'. This immediately puts an image of death or the loss of something or someone into my head. Also in the first line, he says how close he felt to his son and how much he meant to him. 'my right hand'. A right hand man is someone who is always by your side and one who is very close to you and the poet is emphasising the closeness he felt with his son.
I would compare On my first sonne with Catrin by Gillian Clark. Firstly On my first sonne is about a father who lost his seven year old son to death. This peom conveys the pain and misery ben johnson is feeling because his father, son relationship has been lost. Catrin is about how the relationship between mother and daughter is lost as time goes on. Gillian Clark talks about the memories of her daughter in the womb. The poem conveys their relationship in metaphors such as "the tight red rope of love", which represented the umbilical cord. It was the a physical and mental connection between the mother and daugher. Gillian Clark said, after the birth of her daugher, they became seperate from each other as her daughter entered the world. This relates to on my first sonne becuase the father and son were seperated as well, by death. Ben Johnson also conveyed how his son escaped from the world, "to have so soone scap'd worlds, and fleshes rage" here Ben Johnson's son escaped from the world and they became seperate and in Catrin, Gillian Clark's daughter entered the world and they became seperate.
Anisha Shah
I think that this is a very moving piece of poetry. The theme is about grief and personal loss. It shows the strong relationship and love between father and son.
Ben Johnson portrays his grief like a prayer as there is strong religious context. He mentions that loving his son was almost a sin to God: "my sinne was too much hope of thee, lov'd boy", which may imply that he believes his son was taking over the love he had for God.
Although there is much sorrow in the poem, Johnson shows that he is strong with his beliefs.
He describes his son metaphorically by saying that he is “the best piece of poetry”. This may mean that he has chosen the way to bring up his son with love, just as he chooses words to fit in his poetry.
He says "Seven yeeres t wert lent to me”. This shows that he is implying that he was waiting for the time to come and knew that his death was inevitable.
I personally find this poem interesting and very meaningful. I would, like most, compare it to mid-term break as they are both about family relations and death.
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