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Death Be Not Proud By John Donne

Death Be Not Proud By John Donne. Amanda Swinimer English 30IB. Death Be Not Proud. Death be not proud, though, some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for though art not so; For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

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Death Be Not Proud By John Donne

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  1. Death Be Not ProudBy John Donne Amanda Swinimer English 30IB

  2. Death Be Not Proud Death be not proud, though, some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for though 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. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XR8OCdmD6uU

  3. Donne’S Religious History • Donne was raised in an old Roman Catholic family, Catholicism was not popular at this time, and Catholics were often subject to harassment because of their faith • Chose to abandon Catholicism during the 1590’s • 1607 Donne became an Anglican priest on the insistence of King James

  4. Structure • Petrarchan Sonnet (Italian sonnet) • Iambic Pentameter • Split into octave and sestet • Octave (first eight lines) • Sestet (last six lines) • Volta (turn) Death be not proud, though, some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for though 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. A B B A A B B A C D D C E E

  5. Techniques • Metaphysical Conceit • Comparison of sleep and death • “From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, / Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow” (5-6) • “And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well” (11) • “One short sleep past, we wake eternally” (13) • Personification • Personification of Death • Also personifies Fate, Chance, Poison, War and Sickness • Apostrophe • Directly addresses Death • Unity of Arguments and Ideas • Ideas/Arguments presented in the Octave are brought up again in the sestet

  6. Acknowledgments • http://www.nebo-lit.com/poetry/donne/Death-be-not-proud.html • http://www.sonnets.org/basicforms.htm • http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides3/DeathBe.html • http://wonderingminstrels.blogspot.com/2001/05/death-be-not-proud-holy-sonnets-x-john.html • John Donne’s Poetry, Selected and Edited by Arthur L. Clements

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