In both ‘Death not be proud’ and ‘The Apparition’, John Donne presents the theme of death.

In

‘Death not be proud’, death is personified by the speaker to present death as powerless. Meanwhile,

Donne uses the conceit of the apparition to present death as powerful. Similarly, both poem argues

that death is not in control of people but the other way round. ‘Death not be proud’ uses death to

encourage less fear of death in people, while the speaker in ‘The Apparition’ uses death to create

fear in his female lover.

In ‘Death not be proud’, Donne personifies death to directly express his personal views on death

and argue against death. The speaker opens the poem with the title phrase “Death not be proud”

which is an imperative for death not to brag or be proud about its status as a life-ender. The speaker

states paradoxically that death is not as “Mighty and dreadful” as most people believed it to be.

“Mighty” refers to the supposed power and invincibleness of death, while “dreadful” refers to the

inevitability of death and the sorrows that come with it. The speaker completely negates death’s

power and its ability to “overthrow” in these opening sentences. “Overthrow” connotes the idea of

having power. Moreover, the speaker pities “poor” death and states that death cannot kill him,

suggesting that he is more powerful than death. This creates a contradiction as ‘death’ is supposedly

a killer. The speaker is going against the fear that people usually have of death and builds up his

persuasion by degrading death.

Likewise, the speaker compares death to “rest and sleep”, stating that death is a picture of a

temporary resting state. This further demeans death’s power as the speaker is arguing that death is

not actually the end or immortal. Linking back to support his opening statement, “rest and sleep”

does not seem very “mighty” or “dreadful” at all, instead it is the opposite. Sleep is a peaceful and

vulnerable state. Moreover, the speaker argues that since sleep is pleasurable, death should be even

more pleasurable than sleep. This is another paradox that death provides pleasure and allows the

body to “Rest” and lets the soul liberate. In context, the Christian belief is that there is life after

death, hence death is merely a temporary state that ‘delivers’ souls to eternal life. The idea of ‘soul’s

delivery’ also connotes rebirth in ‘delivery’.

Furthermore, the speaker personifies death as a “slave” to “fate, chance, kings and desperate men”.

The metaphor of a “slave” humiliates death and suggests no power at all. The list connotes the

number of things that death is subordinate to. This suggests that death is not what causes death but

death is serves “fate, chance, kings, and desperate men”. Death is not “fate” like people believe it to

be, death is not “chance” or a “king” either. The speaker demeans death’s greatness completely. The

speaker continues to list the companions of death “poison, war, and sickness dwell”. Death waits on

“poison, war, and sickness” to become what it is, he is a slave to the true dreadfulness of the world

“poison, war, and sickness”. Those are in power and have the ability to bring death, not ‘Death’

itself.

Moreover, Donne extends the sleep metaphor. The speaker states that “poppy, or charms can make

us sleep as well, / And better”. The reference to the poppy is its ability to act as a drug (opium). The

speaker is saying that the drugs have the same abilities as death, not only that, the speaker states that

the drugs are even better than death. The fact that man-made medicine is more powerful that a

natural part of life, death, is the speaker’s continuation of discrediting death’s known reputation.

The speaker then rhetorically questions death “why swell’s thou then?”. The imagery of “swell”

may return to the title of the poem suggesting death being puffed up with pride and questioning

death’s reason and right in doing so after all his arguments against death. Donne also continues the

idea of sleep and the Christian belief of afterlife: “One short sleep past, we wake eternally”. He

reinforces his belief that death is just a “short sleep” that makes the essential step to eternal life.

This returns to the idea of “soul’s delivery”.

Finally, the speaker makes a strong conclusion that “death shall be no more: death, thou shalt die.”

This finalises his religious belief on afterlife, that death dies because it is not actually the end of life

but the beginning of a new one. This paradox ends the poem declaratively and links back to the the

declaration at the beginning “Death not be proud”, as death dies. The colon after “no more:”

introduces the conclusion and emphasises “no more”, again it is a paradox and is ironic as death’s

role is to give “no more” to life. He is concluding with the Christian idea that death is just still
physical state for the human body, while the soul of humans will be eternal and free. Donne was an

Anglican so he believes in that concept.

In ‘The Apparition’, Donne presents death through being rejected by his mistress. The title already

connotes death as ‘apparition’ means ghost. He uses it to threaten her and in comparison to ‘Death

not be proud’, symbolises death as something to fear of. Donne uses a conventional theme of the

time, when a man would dies due to unrequited love. Hence this poem presents death due to and for

love, presenting how love has the power and ability to cause death.

In the first stanza, the speaker opens with a dramatic statement “When by thy scorn, O murd’ress, I

am dead”. The “O” gives a sense of worship to the murderess, perhaps linking back to the idea in

‘Death not be proud’, that death is a slave to those in power to give it. The speaker presents

rejection as a form of murder and being rejected as death, he dramatises her action. Hence his lover

who had given him a scornful rejection, he labels as the killer. In this case, she is currently the one

in power, able to give death to the speaker. Linking back to ‘Death not be proud’, it can be said that

this reinforces the idea of death not being a cause but a slave to whoever or whatever is in power to

do the deed of killing. As well as that, there is a rhyme between “death” and “bed”, the first rhyme

of the poem, reinforcing the mistress as the one in power who puts him in his death bed.

Likewise, the second rhyme between “free” and “me” suggests that death will give him a kind of

freedom. This seems to have given the speaker some sort of power as his ghost will be able to haunt

her when she dies. Hence, the rhyme between “free” and “me” also emphasises how his lover thinks

she will be free from him but in actual fact he implies that he will remain connected, this is also

shown in the rhyme between “death” and the “bed” of his lover. The act of freeing herself will

actually be an opposite of what she intends. The speaker suggests that people think they are free

from people when they die but in actual fact they are not, as he brings in the belief of ghosts in his

time.
Furthermore, the speaker brings in the eerie imagery of the winking (fading out) of the lover’s

candle burning: “thy sick taper will begin to wink”. The personification of the candle ‘winking’ is a

reference to Elizabethan beliefs that when a candle is fading out, it is because of the presence of

ghosts. Hence, posing himself and death as a threat to her life. He continues the idea that there will

be the presence of spirits and life after death which links back to the speaker’s religious belief of

afterlife in ‘Death not be proud’. The speaker presents the fear that will be evoked in his lover when

she feels his haunting presence while she is in bed with her lover: “thou stir, or pinch to wake him”.

She will be “Bath’d in a cold quicksilver sweat” because of how frightened she is of his presence.

The hyperbole ‘Bath’d’ emphasises the amount of fear she will be in, she would be taking a bath in

her own sweat. The speaker highlights all the reactions of fear: coldness, sweating and paleness. He

states that she will look “A verier ghost than I”, comparing her to his ghostly state, she will look

ghostlier than him as she will be terrified as she will become a ghost as well (suggesting that she

will die of fear), like he died of rejection from her. Death gives the speaker power to be feared of.

He hopes that his lover will suffer the same state that he is in. In comparison, ‘Death not be proud’

suggests that death should not be feared of, Christians believe that death should not be something to

be afraid of because it gives access to the heavenly kingdom.

In the final stanza, the speaker states that he wishes the pain of death he feels to be reflected upon

his lover: “thou shouldest painfully repent”. The plosive alliteration highlights his feelings of

dissatisfaction from his lover and emphasises the pain he wishes on her. Moreover, the speaker

reinforces the death and threat theme in the final line: “Than by my threat’nings rest still innocent.”

“Rest” and “still” both connotes the physical state of death. There is a religious reference to the

Elizabethan views on ghosts of the souls in torment that cannot rest. Hence, the speaker presents

death as a result of love, to be sufferable. In comparison ‘Death not be proud’ suggests that death is

not painful and sufferable but is peaceful like sleep.

In conclusion, Donne presents death in different ways, though both poems present death in the

sense of its power. ‘Death not be proud’ challenges death itself while ‘The Apparition’ challenges

the cause of death. Additionally, because the structure of ‘The Apparition’ is a long single line, it is
irregular and seemingly more like a flow of the speaker’s outrage of his lover’s rejection rather than

an actual argument like ‘Death not be proud’ which uses sonnet form to structure a clear argument

of why death should not be proud with a point every four lines. ‘Death not be proud’ presents death

as powerless and not to be feared of while ‘The Apparition’ presents the power of the ghost form of

death and something that can be threatening. However, in both poems, the speakers manipulates the

theme death to his own power. Likewise, both poems present a similar religious belief to death and

afterlife as Donne himself converted to be an Anglican.