Death in Jonson and Nashe: A Comparative Poetry Analysis

Introduction: Death as a Literary Theme

The history of humanity has consistently shown how death is defined and described as a direct contrast to life — how, in the joy of giving birth to life, humans also grieve and express sorrow in death. Indeed, death has been painted symbolically in art and literature as darkness, a mystery that cannot be understood or fully discerned. The enigma that is death continues to haunt humanity, and the dread people feel when death is impending reflects humanity's pursuit for enlightenment and understanding of mortality.

It is not surprising, then, that the theme of death became common ground for Ben Jonson and Thomas Nashe's poetry. In "On My First Son" and "On My First Daughter" by Ben Jonson, and "A Litany in Time of Plague" by Thomas Nashe, both authors explore the theme of death, though each approaches it from a different point of view. Jonson's poems address death from the perspective of a parent bearing the sorrow of his children's untimely deaths. Nashe, similarly, takes up the theme of death in his Litany, but does so through the voice of a man nearing death because of the plague. This comparative analysis posits that Jonson and Nashe's poems both illuminate the mystery of — and surprising revelations about — death: Jonson from the perspective of a father bemoaning the loss of a son and daughter, and Nashe from that of a dying man reflecting on his life and inevitable end.

Jonson highlights the theme of death in both "On My First Son" and "On My First Daughter." In "On My First Son," the father expressed sorrow, relief, and ultimately acceptance in bemoaning the death of his son. These emotions are reflected progressively in the poem, with a shift in the father's mood occurring roughly every two stanzas.

Ben Jonson's 'On My First Son': Sorrow, Relief, and Acceptance

The first mood shown is sorrow, as the father bids farewell to his son, who died exactly on his seventh birthday. Sorrow becomes apparent when the father laments, "My sin was too much hope of thee, lov'd boy," in effect confessing that he is also to blame for his son's death — that hoping too much for the boy's recovery only deepened his grief when hope failed to save him.

One painful truth revealed in the poem is the inevitability of death, which the father regards with both sorrow and a measure of gratitude. This idea is reinforced in the third and fourth stanzas, where the father expresses relief that his son did not live long enough to experience the suffering that would have awaited him: "To have so soon 'scaped world's and flesh's rage / And, if no other misery, yet age?" These lines highlight the father's attempt to console himself by arguing that all people must eventually die, and that a life of suffering would have been equally futile. His son, therefore, did not die in vain.

Toward the end of the poem, the father comes to accept both his own plight and his son's fate. It is at this point that Jonson acknowledges himself directly in the poem. His acceptance ends beautifully — and sorrowfully — with the following epitaph for both the living and the dead: "…say here doth lie / Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry / For whose sake…all his vows be such / As what he loves may never like too much." This closing couplet, with its warning against excessive attachment, encapsulates the emotional journey the poem traces from elegiac grief to hard-won wisdom.

Similar to his poem about his son, Jonson depicts profound sorrow in "On My First Daughter" — yet the emotional register differs noticeably. While "On My First Son" is deeply personal and introspective, "On My First Daughter" speaks more broadly, in some sense voicing the experience of all women, young and old. Jonson's greater affinity for his son is apparent when comparing the two poems: his treatment of his daughter's death carries a venerable quality but also, to some degree, a sense of emotional detachment.

Ben Jonson's 'On My First Daughter': Reverence and Detachment

This relative detachment may be attributed partly to the conventions of gender in his era — as a man, Jonson would naturally have felt a stronger personal identification with his son. It may also be explained by the brief span of his daughter's life: she barely lived six months, which may account for the somewhat more measured tone of the poem ("At six months' end, she parted hence…"). The reverence Jonson grants his daughter extends outward to all women and the roles they occupy in society: "Here lies, to each her parents' ruth / Mary, the daughter of their youth…Whose soul heaven's queen, whose name she bears / In comfort of her mother's tears…"

The author further honors his daughter by noting that she died in a state of purity ("Hath placed amongst her virgin-train…"), in the same way that he consoled himself in "On My First Son" by suggesting his son had "escaped" the suffering of a longer life. In both poems, then, purity and the avoidance of suffering serve as sources of comfort in the face of devastating loss.

Conclusion: Shared Themes, Different Perspectives

The inevitability of death is discussed in the context of the dying man's realization that what happens in one's lifetime becomes trivial as death approaches. This is further reinforced by the speaker's own situation: he is dying from the plague, a disease that ravaged and killed thousands — possibly millions — of people. Health, wealth, and even courage and strength offered no protection from the death the plague brought with it. In the end, just as Jonson in his two elegies ultimately accepts his children's fates, Nashe's speaker in the Litany accepts his own, a resignation echoed throughout the poem in the refrain: "I am sick, I must die / Lord, have mercy on us!"