This poem is about death. The author, Ben Jonson, a famous playwright, writes about the death of his eldest seven-year-old son and how sad and grieved he is about it. He does this and expresses his discomfort by using the following techniques...

The first four lines are uses of metaphors. The first line says `child of my right hand'. Here Ben Jonson compares his son and himself to Jezus and god, showing that he loved and needed his son very much. The second line he says that his `sin was to hope too much'. Here he says that he loved his son soo much that it was forbidden by god, which again shows how much he valued his son. The third line and fourth line just says that his son was lent to him and now has been paid back on the day chosen by destiny. All this...