The poem Death Be Not Proud, by John Donne, is a typical “Holly Sonnet”. In these poems, he spent a lot of effort in looking into his “inner self”, expressing his attitude towards religion and life. In this poem, Donne stresses man’s superior over death in particular by using a series of poetic elements.
The sonnet is written in Petrarchan sonnet form with fourteen lines iambic pentameter; the first eight lines are octave, while others are sestet. It has an ABBA ABBA CDDC AA rhyme scheme (with a Scottish accent, the word “die” is pronounced / dee /, so it rhymes with thee, me and eternally.)
The poem is composed of three quatrains and one couplet. The main characteristics of this poem are argumentative structure and inimitable paradox.
In the first quatrain, the author warns Death not to be proud by using personification; he addresses this person-like Death directly, showing contempt for Death, and making it clear that he is not threatened and controlled by Death as others. The second quatrain enhanced the argument that death is not scary at all since it is exactly the same as rest and sleep. Donne used metaphor compares “rest” and “sleep” to “picture of death”; both of rest and sleep are imitations, while Death is real. Donne proves that all of the three can help people to acquire“rest of their bones and soul’s delivery”.Furthermore, another crucial argument comes in the poem’s third quatrain, calling death the slave to fate, chance, kings and desperate men, in which was a metaphor used to expose the incompetence of Death. Death’s survival depends on fate, chance of unfortunate occurrence, the registrations of king, and the willingness of desperate man, it cannot self-support, yet relies on a certain kinds of people. Even poison, war, sickness and poppy can do a better job in making people sleep than Death. In these three quatrains, various reasons are contributed to the theme of this poem that Death has nothing to be proud. Moreover, the couplet made a fetal conclusion that death is nothing but a short sleep, however eternal awake will coming after death. In that case, there is no need for Death to exit, and it should die.
Throughout the poem, the combination of a personified Death and usage of paradox perfectly enabled Donne to present a new and vivid vision to people--- rather than frightening others, Death itself should be sacred instead. People should no longer be threaten by death, thus man is superior to Death.
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