DK
Ariyam
A Critical Analysis of “Death Be Not Proud”
by John Donne
The sonnet “Death Be Not Proud”, written by
John Donne around the year 1618, is one of many sonnets that are part of a
collection called The Holy Sonnets. This collection is comprised of
nineteen sonnets with themes that pertain to Christian philosophy.
“Death Be Not Proud” is a powerful
declaration against death, in which death is personified as a tyrant without
real power “…some have called thee / Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not
soe” (1-2). The poem continues to dismantle death from something mysterious and
feared, to something weak and irrelevant. The speaker’s main polemic is
grounded in the beliefs of Christian philosophy, in particular, its promise of
eternal life. But prior to this, the poem dismantles death from secular angles
as well.
From a structural standpoint, the poem
tightly adheres to the sonnet form, which is defined as a lyric poem that
adheres to a conventional rhyme scheme and is usually made up of fourteen lines
(Murfin, Ray 450). The rhyme scheme for this poem is “abbaabbacddcee”.
The poem attacks death from two different
angles: a secular angle and a religious angle. The first twelve lines are
mostly secular in the sense that a non-Christian can at least follow the
argument. The last two lines require a belief in Christianity, and with this
belief, comes the more powerful, irrefutable claim, dramatically stated in the
words “And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die”(14), which pertains
to the Christian concept of Eternal Life.
The first angle, the secular, the speaker
starts with a feeling of disdain and loathing in the words used against death,
creating an immediate pejorative connotation with this character. This is followed
by flippancy and mocking: “Die not, poore Death, nor yet canst thou kill me”
(4). Here the words “poore Death” are used to diminish Death’s
formidability. This line follows with
another that has the same enervating effect, “From rest and sleep, which but
thy pictures be, / Much pleasure; then from thee much more most flow” (5-6).
Here the speaker, using logic, is stating that since death appears outwardly to
be merely a sleep, and sleep being a pleasurable thing, death must be even more
pleasurable.
Flippancy and mocking is then turned into
disarmament as the speaker addresses Death as a slave, at the whim of external
influences, “Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men” (9).
This line intimates that death has no real power, but is merely summoned like
an instrument without complete autonomy of its own will.
The last part of the poem, particularly in
the last two lines, forms the more powerful and convincing argument against the
fortitude of death; however, it requires a belief in Christianity.
According to Christian philosophy, those
that believe in Christ will never die but live eternally, "That whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John. 3.15
King James Version). This is not to imply that believers escape the natural
course of all living things, which is to eventually cease from living, to die;
death to Christians is not a ceasing of life, but rather, an entering into
life, a better life, an eternal life. In essence, the earthly perishable body
is left behind and the soul continues to live forever thereby escaping death:
"So when this corruptible shall have
put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall be
brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (1 Cor. 15.54).
In
the aforementioned passage from the King James Version of the Bible, Saint
Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, again reiterates the Christian faith’s
view of death as something “irrelevant”, a similar view that is taken in John
Donne’s sonnet “Death Be Not Proud”.
The last line of the poem is the final
thrust against death. It is a claim that death is meaningless, and a paradox.
This is written as a recursive statement “…death, thou shalt die”(14). Since
there is no death, the only thing left is Eternal Life.
But this poem is not merely a
remonstration; it is also a passionate piece of writing that is imbued with
emotion and sounds. Starting from the first line, “Death be not proud, though
some have called thee / Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so” (1-2), the
words that are chosen and their placement, adds a peremptory tone to this first
declaration; these are lines that can not be whispered, but rather, belched out
sonorously. The entire poem follows in this manner, as a declaration loudly
commanded. This continues up until the last lines of the sonnet, where the tone
shifts to that of “finality”, “And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt
die” (14). Also, many of the words in this poem bear heavy connotations, “Thou
are slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men” (9), the words “slave” and
“desperate” are words with strong emotional connotations.
“Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne, is a
sonnet from the revered Holy Sonnets that passionately argues against
the formidability of death. The poem cites the Christian hope of Eternal Life
as the ultimate escape from death, but does provide secular arguments as well
that work in lightening the concept of death. But beyond this, the sonnet is a
literary work of immense beauty and structure; it is a brilliant work from any
point-of-view.