The Gift (Allegory)
In the third line, Jonson refers to his daughter as a gift given by God. The phrase is something of a cliché, emphasizing that he was lucky to have the girl for even a short while. However, it’s important not to read this line as emphasizing how special Mary was. In conventional Christian thought, all life was a gift, and everyone ultimately belonged to God. We can read the line allegorically, in the sense that Mary here stands for all Christian souls. For Jonson, everyone comes to earth for a short while only because God allows them to, and it is right for them to eventually be reclaimed by God.
Grief (Motif)
Jonson refers to grief and woe several times throughout the poem. In the first line, he references the “ruth” of Mary’s parents. "Ruth" means a feeling of pity, distress, or grief. However, its brevity and lack of detail, as well as Jonson’s choice to write about Mary’s parents in the third person, indicates his distance from his feelings of grief. Similarly, the fourth line ends with the word “rue,” which resembles “ruth” and means to feel bitter regret. Jonson argues that knowing Mary belongs to God helps him feel less regret that she has died. Again, here Jonson is attempting to negate his own feelings. Conversely, when he refers to the “mother’s tears” in line 8, he describes the physical act of grieving, rather than simply referring to the grief as an abstract concept. This is a less distant approach, and suggests that he is more comfortable with the mother’s grief than his own.
