The death of a child has a great power to move us. In this essay I will be discussing how the poets write about childhood death in 'On my first Sonne' and 'Mid-term break. It would be a far more common event in the 17th Century, when these poems were written, as childhood illness was often fatal. On my First Sonne is written by Ben Jonson. It is an elegy in which the poet expresses …showed first 75 words of 906 total…

…showed last 75 words of 906 total…break' explore different aspects of childhood death. In 'Mid-term Break' Heaney uses the many ways of morning to portray the effects and pandemonium caused by the death of a child. Whereas, 'On my first Sonne' is more focused on justifying the death and the consequent pain caused by the death of a child. Both of these methods are very effective in helping the reader feel the trauma that the loss of a child can cause.