Poetry Response #8 "Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud" BY JOHN DONNE

Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud

BY JOHN DONNE

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 thou 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.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, 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 thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally

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

Response: 

One could argue that death is one of, or is the most popular topic discussed or analyzed in literature and human conversation; the only thing that comes to mind as talked about more than death is love. Many of Shakespeare's tragedies include both death and love (Romeo & Juliet for example). I recognized the name of this poet after this weeks homework with the one John Donne poem that had questions; admittedly, I understand why John Donne is such a popular poet after reading the two poems. “Death, not be proud” captures the theme related to the death of death itself, an idea that sends chills down my spine. In fact, the final line of the poem proves this idea “And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.” In this poem death is not a symbol or a metaphor, but simply itself; if there is extinction of all species then death itself will die because nothing left can die. Therefore, the concept of death will no longer exist. Interestingly, the concept of death has been created, even though the process of dying is as natural as birth. Yet, death is not as celebrated as life. It is interesting how the poem shifts from the death of man to the death of death itself, “Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee do go,” my best interpretation of those lines is that the speaker is saying more life will flow within the world and there will be pleasure. However, the best of men will be taken by death eventually.