Concerning the poem "On My First Son(ne)" by Ben Johnson...?

Question

(this for an exam 2mm btw) in the part where he compares his son to a loan, what effect does this comparison achieve?

Answer 1

Okay - first I had to find this:
On My First Sonne - Ben Johnson
FAREWELL, thou child of my right hand, and joy;
My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy.
Seven years thou wert lent to me, and I thee pay,
Exacted by thy fate, on the just day.
O, could I lose all father now! For why
Will man lament the state he should envy?
To have so soon ’scaped world’s and flesh’s rage,
And, if no other misery, yet age?
Rest in soft peace, and asked, say, “Here doth lie
Ben Jonson his best piece of poetry,
For whose sake, henceforth, all his vows be such
As what he loves may never like too much.”

Well, the comparison of the son to having a loan (7 years) seems to show that Ben Jonson was a religious person, or at least understood that our children are a temporary gift from God, like a loan that we are meant to handle wisely and with good judgment. I have heard that it is actually Jewish custom to forgive debts of all debtors every 7 years. This poem seems to have some Biblical overtones with that reference. I think this poem is meant to appeal to other fathers, those who knew about and could relate to financial terms as well, knowing that a due date for a loan repayment was non-negotiable - God's word was also as final - as is death. Okay, there is my two cents' worth.
Edit: Anyway, I thought about it some more, and I think someone might also see that Ben Jonson is attempting to deal with his grief by using a euphemism here - by saying the life of his child was like having a loan payable on a "just date." Sometimes in the Christian/religious community we also have a tendency to rely on euphemisms - someone passed away instead of saying someone died, or that it is God's will that it was his time to go. It is an attempt by a person going through grief to try to make sense of loss, to intellectualize it, to distance oneself a little bit if possible to keep from feeling the full extent of pain.

Answer 2

I agree with the first answer-the religious approach