“On My First Son,” by Ben Jonson, and “Mid-Term Break,” by Seamus Heaney, both touch on the theme of death in their poems. The way they deal with the topic, however, is quite different due to their points of view. Through their structures, rhyme schemes, and literary devices, we can see that Heaney sees death as confusing and embarrassing, while Jonson sees death as devastating, leading to anguish and pain. “On My First Son” has 12 verses and is written in only one stanza, which shows how short and condensed the child's life was. Jonson uses 10 or 11 syllables in each line and employs iambic pentameter throughout the poem, except for one line: "Seven years have you lent me, and I pay you" (line 3). It is used to emphasize the line using salience; we see that something is wrong. This is where he mentions death more explicitly as we know that his son is no longer with him and that Jonson has returned him to God. Instead of simply feeling grief, the speaker's reaction is much deeper; he is questioning his religion and his relationship with God, the one who took his son away from him. His reaction is deeper and more distressing than that of the speaker in “Mid-Term Break.” Where "On My First Son" is coherent, with a short block of text, "Mid-Term Break" has 22 lines and is written in couplets except for the last line, which is isolated. This structure shows the grieving process the speaker goes through, as opposed to the internal turmoil Jonson speaks of. The speaker of “Mid-Term Break” is a confused teenager who doesn't know how to react and so the thought process is longer than Jonson's; he doesn't question life like Jonson does, instead he is confused. This is also shown in the number of syllables and meter, with...... middle of paper ......nclusion, "Mid-Term Break" and "On My First Son" both address the reaction of the death of a loved one. However, due to their contrasting viewpoints, these reactions diverge greatly, as shown through their structures, rhymes, and word choices. How a father reacts to the death of his son varies greatly from how a teenager would react to the death of his younger brother. Jonson and Heaney have done an excellent job of portraying these dissimilar responses and both manage to convince the reader of the speaker's genuineness. Works Cited"embarrassed, adj.". OED online. December 2013. Oxford University Press. February 5, 2014."complaint, see". OED online. December 2013. Oxford University Press. February 5 2014 .