Death Be Not Proud (poem)

John Donne

Death Be Not Proud, Holy Sonnet #10, is a metaphysical poem by John Donne, written around 1610 and first published posthumously in 1633.

Content

The poem is a sonnet addressed to Death, telling him not to be proud, because death is not to be feared.

The poem explains because sleep is a type of death, and that it is pleasurable, then death must be even more so; that death is a slave to fate, chance (accidental death), kings (who have the power of life and death, such as the ability to levy war and command executions), and desperate men.

The sonnet has an ABBA ABBA CDDC AE rhyming scheme, emblematic of a enclosed rhyme.

Text

Death, be not proud, though some have callèd 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 sleepe 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.

External links

• http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/658.html
• http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides3/DeathBe.html
• http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15836

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