Death, Be Not ProudBY JOHN DONNE (1572-1631)

Death, Be Not Proud

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee,

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poor death, nor yet canst though kill me

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure-then, from thee much more must flow;

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones and soul’s delivery.

Though art slave to fate, chance king and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;

And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well,

And better than thy stroke. Why swell’st though then?

One short sleep passed, we wake eternally,

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

Biography

His father died in 1576, when Donne was four years old. His mom remarried to Dr. John Syminges. Some of Donne’s closer relatives were martyrs, one of them was Saint Thomas Moore who was his mom’s uncle. Martyrs were executed or exiled for religious reason at that time. Two more of his sisters, Mary and Katherine, died in 1581. 

John Donne was born between January 24th and June 19th in 1572 . Donne was born in London. His religion was a recusant Roman Catholic since practice of this religion was illegal in England.

John Donne fell in love with Anne More. They were married just before Christmas without the approval from her family. Anne bore John twelve children in sixteen years of marriage. His three children died before they were ten.

“Death Be Not Proud” is the 10th sonnet of nineteen that are part of a collection entitled The Holy Sonnet.

We don’t know when John Donne’s Holy Sonnets were written. Many people think that Donne composed them after the death of his wife in 1617.They were published in 1633, two years after Donne’s death. Donne is commonly grouped among the Metaphysical Poets

Structure

Donne’s “Holy Sonnet 10” follows the Shakespearean sonnet which contains three quatrains and a concluding couplet.

However, the rhyme scheme is ABBA ABBA CDDC EE that is a typical rhyme scheme of Italian(Petrarchan) sonnet.

It was written in iambic pentameter but did not strictly follow the rule.

In line 9, “Thou art” is counted as an unstressed syllable since the author wanted to emphasize “slave”.

In line 11, “poppy” is counted as a stress syllable to emphasize itself.

Enjambments are in line 1 and 3.

Caesura: A pause in a line of verse dictated by sense or natural speech rhythm rather than by metrics 4,12, 13, and 14.

Synecdoche: “Rest of their bones.” -Best men's bones actually stand for the whole physical body.

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee,Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrowDie not, poor Death, nor yet canst though klil meFrom rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,Much pleasure-then, from thee much more must flow;And soonest our best men with thee do go,Rest of their bones and soul’s delivery.Though art slave to fate, chance king and desperate men,And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well,And better than thy stroke. Why swell’st though then?One short sleep passed, we wake eternally,And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

Vocabulary:-Delivery refers to childbirth, which adds to the whole "new life" idea.-Poppy is a flower used to make opium, an old-fashioned drug that makes people really happy.-Stroke could refer to "stroking" someone, like one might stroke a child’s head to put him to sleep. Or, it could refer to the "stroke" of a sword, which is obviously much more violent. Or, it could imply the "stroke" of a clock at the exact moment of death.

Alliteration : repetition of or more initial sounds; usually consonants, in word within a line.

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee,Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrowDie not, poor death, nor yet canst though kill me.From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,Much pleasure-then, from thee much more must flow;And soonest our best men with thee do go,Rest of their bones and soul’s delivery.Though art slave to fate, chance king and desperate men,And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well,And better than thy stroke. Why swell’st though then?One short sleep passed, we wake eternally,And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die

Defiant tone indicates what Death think he is.

Show what Death really is

Shift: Change slightly in line 9.Insulting Death

Poetic Devices and Figurative Language

Apostrophe: an address to a person or personified object not present.

He treat Death as a person, telling Death not to proud in the first line and in the fourth line he addresses "poor Death”

Personification:

Line 1:proud

Line 3: overthrow

Line9: Fate, chance, kings, desperate men- masters of Death

Metaphor:

Line 5: a common metaphor in Christian writings, comparison of death to rest and sleep.

Line9: “Thou art slave to fate, chance, king, and desperate men”

Paradox and Irony: “Death, thou shalt die”

Rhetorical question is a question that is asked in order to make a point. “Why swell’st thou then?”

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee,Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

He treats death as a person.

He tells Death not to be so proud, because he’s really not as scary or powerful and can’t boss people around as most people think.

The speaker orders Death not to be proud, and then says that people are mistaken in treating Death as some fearsome being.

He also personifies death.

For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrowDie not, poor death, nor yet canst though kill me

Death thinks that he has the power to kill people, but he actually doesn’t.

Donne uses the word "overthrow" instead of "kill" in line 3, an interesting choice, because people usually use the word in the context of "overthrowing" a ruler and taking control of his territory.

The speaker starts to show his pity by addressing "poor Death," (apostrophe) Insulting Death. But it seems ridiculous to say that Death doesn’t kill people.

Donne uses the idea of Christian eternity to argue that death is something that people pass through on their way to a new, eternal life.

-“… overthrow die not” enjambment.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,Much pleasure-then, from thee much more must flow;

-He compares death to "rest" and "sleep," two things that give us "pleasure."

-Therefore, death should give us pleasure, too, when we finally meet it.

-Rest and sleep, are like the painting of an object, that give us pleasure, and Death is the real object, so it will give us more pleasure than rest and sleep.

-The comparison of death to sleep or eternal rest is a classic metaphor in Christian writings.

And soonest our best men with thee do go,Rest of their bones and soul’s delivery.

The "best men” follow Death into the afterlife, thinking that he will give free or "deliver" their Christian souls from all the pain of earthly life.

"Deliver" can also refer to childbirth, which adds to the whole "new life" idea.

The speaker almost certainly refers to people like martyrs, who sacrifice themselves for the greater good since at Donne’s time; people would be killed if he/she is Catholic.

Though art slave to fate, chance, kings and desperate men,And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;

With the metaphor of the slave, the speaker suggests that Death doesn’t act on his own free will, and instead is controlled or manipulated by other things like "fate, chance, kings, and desperate men."

Like Death, Fate is often treated as a person in literature. Fate is thought to control everything that happens to people, including when they will die. So, Death doesn’t decide when people will die; he just carries out orders from Fate.

"Chance" is luck, the idea that things can happen for no particular rhyme or reason.

"Kings" are different from fate and chance because they are real people, but they have a similar kind of control over when and how people die.

"Desperate men," refers to people who commit suicide that can die whenever he decides so Death can’t do anything with this.

Claiming that he hangs out, or "dwells," with "poison, war, and sickness”, bad things that everyone hates.

And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well,And better than thy stroke. Why swell’st though then?

In lines 5-6, the speaker argues that death will be just like sleep, except even better.

But, now, he said, "Who needs Death anyway? If I want to sleep really well, I can just use drugs and magic charms!"

This seems to conflict with the idea that Death is supposed to be way more pleasurable than sleep, but who cares?

The "poppy" is a flower used to make opium, an old-fashioned drug that makes people really happy, but also turns their skin yellow.

In fact, drugs and magic charms work even "better" than Death at bringing on sleep.

"Stroke" is another interesting word. It could refer to "stroking" someone, like one might stroke a child’s head to put him to sleep. Or, it could refer to the "stroke" of a sword, which is obviously much more violent. Or, it could imply the "stroke" of a clock at the exact moment of death.

The speaker destroys Death’s claim to be the ultimate sleep aid, the speaker puts Death in his place, telling him not to "swell" with pride.

“And better than thy stroke. Why swell'st thou then?” =Caesura

One short sleep passed, we wake eternally,And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

First, he returns to the idea of death as "sleep," which gets a bit more complicated here because he gives a time-frame: it’s a "short sleep."

In traditional Christian theology, it is thought that, when people died, it is like they are asleep until the end of the world or Judgment Day. At this point, Jesus wakes everyone up to lead them to Heaven, where they will spend eternity. Therefore, when the Apocalypse happens and the world ends, there isn’t any more death. All good Christians will have eternal life in Heaven.

It also makes no sense on a literal level.

Assuming Death does not kill himself, who’s going to kill him other than himself?

Clearly, the final "death" just means that he won’t exist anymore.

It’s a classic Metaphysical Poet move to end a poem on a line that seems to contradict itself.

Quiz

1. When was Donne born?

2. What was Donne’s religion?

3. What type of sonnet is this?

4. Name one line that consists of alliteration.

5. What is the paradox in the poem?

6. True or False: Death is compared to “rest” and “sleep”.

7. In what lines does enjambment occur?

8. Who is the boss of Death?

9. According to the poem, what happens after Death?

10. What can the meaning of “stroke” in line 12 turn out to be?

A. Stroke of a child’s head.

B. Stroke of a sword.

C. Stroke of a clock.

D. All of the above.