Death, be not proud - John Donne

Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud - 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.

John Donne’s Holy Sonnet X (Death be not proud) deals with the theme of death. The poet in this poem challenges authority of death. There is no need to afraid of death. Death is generally considered to be mighty and dangerous, but in reality it is neither mighty nor dangerous. The poet tells death that it has no capacity even to kill him. According to the poet, the picture of death is nothing but sleep and rest. Sleep and rest generally give joy to a person. Since that is the function of death, pleasure should be derived from death.

“Sleep is a temporary death but

 Death is a permanent sleep.”

The poet addressing to death mentions that even the best people sooner or later go with death. Why should then he be afraid of death? Death offers rest to human body and soul is transferred to another body. Death is a slave of fate, chance, king and a man who is in distress. There are three residing places of death namely poison, war and sickness.

 Death performs the same function which is performed by charms of a mother. Mother’s love causes sound sleep to a child and in the same manner death also causes sleep to a person. The sleep caused by mother’s charm is sweet while sleep caused by death comes like a stroke. There is no need for death to be proud. After every sleep a person gets up. Death is also a sleep after which a person gets up forever. If death is accepted in this manner, death no more remains death.

The present sonnet of Donne conveys a message to mankind how death should be treated without mighty or dangerous.

Reference-

·       https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/44107

·       Class Notes (18/9/2015) by R.K.Mandaliya