The poem entitled On My First Son is a pouring out of a father’s soul-a soul that pours out every last drop of pain, anguish, and love for his deceased son neatly into a beautiful poem. Ben Jonson illustrates his love and loss with concreteness and passion. Just as an artist creates a painting on paper with a pallet of colors and different types of brushes, Jonson uses thoughtful phrasing and strong diction to create a vivid word painting of his son.
The phrasing of this poem can be analyzed on many levels. Holistically, the poem moves the father through three types of emotions. More specifically, the first lines of the poem depict the father s deep sadness toward the death of his son. The line Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy creates a mental picture in my mind (Line 1). I see the father standing over the coffin in his blackest of outfits with sunglasses shading his eyes from the sun because even the sun is too bright for his day of mourning. The most beautiful scarlet rose from his garden is gripped tightly in his right hand as tears cascade down his face and strike the earth with a splash that echoes like a scream in a cave, piercing the ears of those gathered there to mourn the death of his son.
The second four lines also describe the father s emotions as they move from sadness to anger, and from anger he moves quickly into a realization that he had no control over the situation. He is angry at the world, himself, and the situation that he is now in. The line, Exacted by thy fate, on the just day seems to be his only form of solace in the midst of anger (Line 4). He speaks of God and His plan and how it supercedes the plans o…
… middle of paper …
…ificed for all the sins of mankind. Feeling ashamed and sad, he questions his own faith by saying that his son was too young to have scaped world s and flesh s rage (Lines8, 9). Finally, he uses a tender word like peace to signal that he has accepted his son s death, forgiven himself and God, and realizes that everything will be all right.
This poem touched my heart not only as a person that could see the mastery in his phrasing and his word choices, but I also have many people that I love, and if and when they die, I will probably feel the same way. It is amazing how Jonson can tie all his feelings into such a short poem. By doing so, I believe he was physically showing us that his son’s death was an unlucky event. The poem has thirteen lines, like the number of words in this sentence. Was it lucky thirteen? I think not-not for the father.
Sound and Sense in Langston Hughes’ The Negro Speaks of Rivers
Sound and Sense in Langston Hughes’ The Negro Speaks of Rivers
The text of the poem can be found at the bottom of this page. In Langston Hughes’ poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” Hughes makes use of some interesting poetic techniques. This poem is written in free verse, and seems, at first glance, to be very unstructured. Hughes repeats words and lines, but does not make use of repeated sounds. Hughes’ rivers are very rich in symbolism, and are not just simple bodies of water. Finally, some of his word choices near the end of the poem help to bring the message of the poem across more strongly. These poetic techniques contribute greatly to the quality of the poem.
In this poem, Hughes chooses to use free verse. This is typical of Hughes, who was a pioneer of so-called “spoken-word poetry,” as opposed to more structured forms. Hughes was inspired by black American traditions, and wanted to make his poems accessible to everyone, and accurately reflect American life. He wrote this poem in words that common people of his time could understand, even if they did not have a great education. Since much of Hughes’ intended audience was black and not well educated, Hughes wrote a poem that does not require much formal poetic training to understand. However, it is also a very deep poem, one that still lends itself to these methods of study.
Hughes makes use of repeated words and even repeats lines, but does not use alliteration, assonance, or consonance. The lack of sound repetition helps to stop the poem from having a “singsong” tone, which is not needed in a poem with a “serious” message such as this. The poem, though, takes on a structure that is reminiscent of many black spirituals, a form with whic…
… middle of paper …
…
Works Cited
American Heritage Dictionary of The English Language, The. Third Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1992.
“It’s A Hughes Thang.” (18 May 1998).
“Student Commentaries – Langston Hughes.” (18 May 1998).
The Negro Speaks of Rivers
By Langston Hughes
I’ve known rivers:
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young.
I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.
I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.
I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.
My soul has grown deep like the rivers.