Holy Sonnet 10 Tone

The words “Death, be not proud” open John Donne’s Holy Sonnet 10, setting the tone, as the narrator addresses death himself. Donne, inspired by his experiences with religion, wrote a collection of poems known as “The Divine poems,” in which he establishes a connection between the narrator, and God. Holy Sonnet 10 is unique in that, the narrator addresses not God, but Death. As explored by both Joanne Woolway and Roberta J. Albrecht, Donne employs masterful use of apostrophe to address death, stylized structure giving rise to ambiguity, and the paradox of the death of christ, to convey a powerful, yet questioning, poem on death.
Donne was born in London in 1572, belonging to a modestly wealthy Roman Catholic family, with a rich religious background. During the 16th century, England was dominated by the Anglican church, making Donne a religious outcast
(Napierkowski & Ruby, 102-108).
During his younger years, Donne studied at Oxford, earning a degree in law. Later, he went on to sail with English expeditions against the Spanish, which inspired some of his youthful writing, such as the poems The Storm and The Calm (Colclough 1-16). Afterwards, Donne became entangled in an engagement to Ann Moore, which, upon the disapproval of the father, fostered imprisonment for Donne, for a short time. During the next few years of Donne’s life, he switched from Roman Catholicism to Anglicism, writing works such as Pseudo-Martyr in an attempt to sway Roman Catholics (Napierkowski & Ruby, 102-108). It is suspected that, during this time in Donne’s life, several poems comprising Donne’s Divine Poems were written, including Holy Sonnet 10. During this time in Donne’s life, religion began to shape his work, and in 1611 he accompanied Sir Robert Drury on a diplomatic mission to France, during which time Donne composed some of his most
celebrated work, such as the finishing of the Divine Poems, and his most famous work, A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning (Napierkowski & Ruby, 102-108). Upon his return to England in 1615, Donne became an Anglican minister, and rose rapidly through the ranks of the clergy, eventually becoming the dean of St. Pauls in 1621, after which he dedicated the rest of his life to writing religious texts and interpreting religious writings, until his death in 1631. Holy Sonnet 10, along with many of his other works, despite being disseminated amongst the wealthy and literate, was published in 1633, making it one of many of Donne’s posthumous works.
Both Joanne Woolway and Roberta J. Albrecht seek to interpret and explain the meaning behind Donne’s Holy Sonnet 10, both having differing interpretations and literary criticisms. Most critics of Donne throughout history have contended that Donne’s work exemplifies those traits of a metaphysical work, asserting that it displays themes revolving around the supernatural, and the abstract concepts of life, and death. It is in Joanne Woolway’s letter to Poetry For Students that she contends that the speaker in Holy Sonnet 10 uses personification to directly address death, belittling death in the process, and ending in the ambiguous line “Death, thou shalt die.” (Woolway 108 -110). Woolway cites three key arguments against Death’s paramount power, including the speakers