James Thai

ENGL 2322

Luke Ramsey

13 December 2020

Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud

BY JOHN DONNE

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

2. Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

3. For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow

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

5. From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

6. Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,

7. And soonest our best men with thee do go,

8. Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.

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

10. And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

11. And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well

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

13. One short sleep past, we wake eternally

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

 Section 1: Title and Situation

The poem I used for the project is called “Death, be not proud” written by John Donne.

The speaker in the poem shows a sense of compassion and also shows arrogance. On line 4 the

speaker says “nor yet canst thou kill me” when referring to Death. However, on line 9 the

speaker shows his softer side and pitties Death. The speaker does this by telling Death that he is

a slave to fate. Meaning Death has no conscience he does what is told of him to do and he has to

wait on fate to order him around. The listener seems to be Death itself. The speaker uses “thou”

many times throughout the poem and the translation to modern English is you. Therefore, the

speaker is talking to Death, or the listener. The speaker has no concerns. At most he is concerned

about how Death is a slave to fate. The speaker compares Death to taking a nap and he also says

Death can not kill him. The situation in the poem is that the speaker is calling out Death, saying

he should not be proud and telling people who are scared of Death to not be. The speaker is

comparing something that is considered to be a little thing to death that is considered to be a

scary thing. The speaker is saying that people should not fear death as it is “one short sleep past,

we wake eternally.” (ln.13) The title is a foreshadow on what the speaker would be saying

throughout the poem. The speaker will be giving reasons on why Death should not be proud.

Section 2: Form

15. Death, be not proud, though some have called thee a

16. Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; b

17. For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow b

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

19. From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, a
 20. Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow, b

21. And soonest our best men with thee do go, b

22. Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery. a

23. Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, c

24. And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, d

25. And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well d

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

27. One short sleep past, we wake eternally

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

The poem is a very short one with only one stanza with fourteen lines. The rhyme scheme

in the poem is consistent with a sonnet. The scheme comes in three quatrains. The first one is

ABBA, the second one is ABBA, and the final one is CDDC. “Death, be not proud” is an

example of a sonnet. A sonnet is a fourteen line poem that consists of a rhyme scheme that

contains three quatrains. The repetition of “Death” is important because the speaker is

personifying death.

Section 3: Context

Information that is relevant to help understand the poem is that “Donne’s early poetry

was modeled on the verse of classical Roman authors.” (Marotti, Arthur) It was also stated that

“Donne himself described his career as falling into two phases: that of the early Jack Donne,

writer of witty erotic lyrics and paradocesl and the later John Donne the preacher concerned with

deacy, deaht abd salvation.” (Marotti, Arthur) This means that “Death, be not proud” was one of

his later pieces he wrote in life as he was more mature and began thinking about the meaning of

life and death.

 Section 4: Classification

The poem “Death, be not proud” would be classified as a Cavalier poem. It is classified

as a Cavalier because a Cavalier is a poem that follows strict forms and rhyme schemes. “Death,

be not proud” is an example of a sonnet which has fourteen lines and a rhyme scheme that

consist of three quatrains. The only way I could see this poem go against a sonnet is because of

the third quatrain being a different pattern from the first two. The third one being a CDDC while

the first two are ABBA.

Conclusion

This poem connects to other poems we have read due to the use of allusions. The use of

allusions in this poem is a bit of a stretch however there is a small use. The talk of an afterlife is

primarily in Christianity. Almost all of the poems we have read have some examples of

allusions. This reveals that many works of literature during the 17th Century in England had

many authors who were religious and wanted to spread their faith though their works.
 Work Cited

Brackett, Virginia. “‘Death Be Not Proud.’” The Facts On File Companion to British Poetry,

17th and 18th Centuries, Facts On File, 2008. Bloom's Literature,

online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?aid=20861&itemid=WE54&articleId=10846. Accessed

13 Dec. 2020.

Donne, John. “Holy Sonnets: Death, Be Not Proud by John Donne.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry

Foundation, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44107/holy-sonnets-death-be-not-proud.

Hager, Alan. “Donne, John.” Encyclopedia of British Writers, 16th and 17th Centuries, Facts On

File, 2005. Bloom's Literature, online.infobase.com/Auth/Index?

aid=20861&itemid=WE54&articleId=32295. Accessed 13 Dec. 2020.

Jokinen, Anniina. “John Donne.” John Donne (1572-1631), 1996,

www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/index.html.