“Death, Be Not Proud” – By John Donne

About the Author:

John Donne (June 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, satirist, lawyer and a         clergy in the Church of England. He is the founder of metaphysical poets. Metaphysical poets meditate on love, death, god, and human through use of conceits and wit. He believes in resurrection so he thinks death has no threat. His poems are usually written    about religious subjects.

 In the poem “Death, Be Not Proud”, poet John Donne’s inclusion of personification, irony, and indirect characterization depicts the speaker’s opinion of death. In doing so, Donne suggests that death is simply an obstacle in the long – term of eternal life.

  

The poem is begins as challenging but as the narrator’s one – sided conversation with Death goes on it turns to blatant belittlement and disregard.

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

The speaker is telling Death should not be proud, even though some have called death mighty and scary, but it is not so.

For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

   Death believes that it is “overthrowing” people, when actually one does not die. Although death claims to kill people, people cannot die and neither can the narrator.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,

    In this stanza Donne compares death with rest and sleep, which are not scary. He says that Death will bring pleasure, not pain.

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.

    Even when men do die, Death can only acquire the bodies, not the souls. The souls will transcend to heaven. So, the best men willingly go to death and they rest their bones and their should go to heaven.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell

    Donne says Death is a slave because it is under the control of mortal individuals (kings and desperate men). Death is also vulgar because it uses poison, war, and sickness to get what it wants.

And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well

And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?

    Poppies and charms cause sleepiness too. Donne questions Death how it can feel so pompous of itself when other harmless objects create the same effects as it creates. This means Death is at the same level as poppies and charms.

One short sleep past, we wake eternally

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

    Death gives a short sleep. We should not worry because we will be resurrected into another human being so we will “wake eternally” Therefore Death will die. In heaven, where a person’s soul stays there, death does not exist which causes Death to “Die”

    So, we can say that the purpose of the poem is to convey a sense of comfort when discussing a topic like death, which certainly has some uncomfortable and even frightening associations. The document explains that death need not be feared, and through logical conclusions the speaker removes Death’s power.