Literary Term

Connotation: the connotation is what a word suggests beyond what the actual definition of the word is. It is the overtone of the word.

Example: "Farewell, thou child of my right hand, and joy. My sin was too much hope of thee, loved boy." (On My First Son lines 1-2)

Function: Connotation of sin in this poem perhaps makes more meaning in this poem than the real definition (to offend against a principle or standard). It is not actually a sin to hope for good things to happen to a person, but in this case, the speaker feels that because of his having too much hope, that he was only let down even more when he lost his son. "thou child of my right hand..." suggests that his first son was the one who he had planned to follow in his footsteps. To do all the things that his father had done, and even more. The speaker had hoped for him to have a better opportunity to do all the things that he himself hasn't done, and profit from them. The father feels that by hoping too much that he violated what was truely planned for this son. He feels that he has sinned by expecting too much from his child, and possibly even blames himself for his son's death.