16th and 17th Century Poetry Archives

Death Be Not Proud Summary “Death Be Not Proud” presents an argument against the facility of death. Addressing Death as an individual, the speaker warns Death against pride in his power. Such power is simply an illusion, and therefore the end Death thinks it brings to men and ladies is a rest from world-weariness for its alleged “victims.” The poet criticizes Death as a slave to other forces: fate, chance, kings, and desperate men. Death isn't on top of things, for a spread of other powers exercises their volition in taking lives. Even within the rest, it brings, Death is inferior to drugs. Finally, the speaker predicts the top of Death itself, stating “Death, thou shalt die.” Analysis Donne’s “Holy Sonnet 10” follows the Elizabethan/Shakespearean sonnet form therein it's made from three quatrains and a concluding couplet. However, Donne has chosen the Italian/Petrarchan sonnet rhyme scheme of abba for the primary two quatrains, grouping them into an octet typical of the Petrarchan form. He switches rhyme scheme within the third quatrain to add, then the couplet rhymes ee as was common. Death Be Not Proud read more... The first quatrain focuses on the topic and audience of this poem: death. By addressing Death, Donne makes it/him into a personality through personification. The poet warns death to avoid pride (line 1) and reconsider its/his position as a “Mighty and dreadful” force (line 2). He concludes the introductory argument of the primary quatrain by declaring to death that those it claims to kill “Die not” (line 4), and neither can the poet himself be stricken during this way. The second quatrain, which is closely linked to the primary through the abba rhyme scheme, turns the criticism of Death as but fearful into praise for Death’s good qualities. From Death comes “Much pleasure” (line 5) since those good souls whom Death releases from earthly suffering experience “Rest of their bones” (line 6). Donne then returns to criticizing Death for thinking too highly of itself: Death is not any sovereign, but a “slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men” (line 9); this last demonstrates that there's no hierarchy during which Death is near the highest. Although a desperate man can choose Death as a shake earthly suffering, even the remainder which Death offers are often achieved better by “poppy, or charms” (line 11), so even there Death has no superiority. The final couplet caps the argument against Death. Not only is Death the servant of other powers and essentially impotent to kill anyone, but also Death is itself destined to die when, as within the Christian tradition, the dead are resurrected to their eternal reward. Here Donne echoes the sentiment of Paul in First Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians 15:26, where Paul writes that “the final enemy to be destroyed is death.” Donne taps into his Christian background to means that Death has no power and at some point will cease to exist. Death Be Not Proud read more...

16th and 17th Century Poetry

Paradise Lost Book 1 John Milton Summary & Analysis

The Collar by George Herbert: Summary & Analysis

George Herbert’s Easter Wings: Summary & Analysis

To His Coy Mistress Poem Summary and Analysis

The Definition of Love Poem Summary & Analysis

Death Be Not Proud Poem Summary And Analysis

Batter My Heart (Holy Sonnet 14) Summary and Critical Analysis

John Donne: “The Canonization” Summary and Analysis

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning Summary & Analysis

MOST POPULAR

Bacon’s treatment of personal relationship in his essays

Write a Composition —- My Childhood Memory

King Lear William Shakespeare Bangla Translation 1

The central figure in the novel Heart of Darkness

QUESTIONS

Billy Collins Short Biography | American Poet

Compare and contrast the Lilliputian Emperor with the Brobdingnagian

Emily Dickinson- Short Biography | American Poet

Because I could not stop for Death Summary & Analysis

EDITOR PICKS

Tree at my window by Robert Frost Summary

Acquainted with the Night Summary & Themes

The Death of the Hired Man by Robert Frost Summary &...

POPULAR POSTS

What is Renaissance? Discuss the main characteristics of Renaissance.

Write a Paragraph —- —– Drug Addiction

Of Revenge Summary & Analysis by Sir Francis Bacon

POPULAR CATEGORY