Detailed Analysis of John Donne's 'Death, Be Not Proud' Poem

This essay provides a detailed analysis of John Donne's poem "Death, Be Not Proud," focusing on the poem's metaphysical style, use of metaphors, and its challenge to traditional views of death. The essay examines how Donne uses brevity and literary devices to convey his message that death is not as powerful as commonly believed, comparing it to sleep and arguing that individuals should not fear it. It explores the poem's key lines and their deeper meanings, as well as its historical context within the 17th century. The analysis highlights the poet's techniques, such as comparing death to sleep and highlighting its role as a puppet of fate, to ultimately conclude that the poem's effectiveness stems from its skillful use of brevity and metaphors, which enhance its beauty and appeal. The essay also references Donne's personal life, such as the death of his wife, to interpret certain lines within the poem and its overall message.

Running head: POETRY ANALYSIS
Death, Be Not Proud
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Author’s Note:

1POETRY ANALYSIS
John Donne’s poem “Death, Be Not Proud” from the book “Donne, John, ‘Death Be
Not Proud’ from 250 Poems, 3rd ed, Ed Schakel, page 17” tries to repudiate or contradict the
traditionally held opinion about death in the early part of the 17th century. Death was held to
be an ennobling entity and as an end of everything. However, this poem tried to show that
death is after all not that powerful and can be seen as a kind of slumber which leads the
individuals to afterlife or eternity. The poet also upholds the viewpoint that death can be seen
as a puppet in the hands of the sovereigns, lords, knights and more importantly fate. This can
be said to be the essence that the poet is trying to convey to the readers. The poet uses the
technique of metaphysical style of writing and also lots of metaphors to convey this message
to the readers. The brevity, metaphysical style of writing and also the effective use of
metaphors renders beauty to the poem.
The metaphysical poets tried to convey the essence of their poem through the
effective usage of the literary device of metaphors and brevity. The use of metaphor is visible
in the various sections of the poems and helps the poet to convey in only 14 lines the kind of
meaning that would have normally taken pages. For example, in several sections of the poem
like “From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, /Much pleasure”, “One short sleep” and
others, death has been compared by the poet to the nourishing sleep that every human being
indulges in1. The poet compares the lifelessness brought on by death to the loss of senses that
the intake of opium and other kinds of drugs brings in. This becomes evident from the lines
of the poem “And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well /And better than thy stroke”2.
In addition to these, the poet uses the concept of death in the sense of a warrior who boosts of
the victories that he had gained over his enemies rather than the generally held opinion
regarding death as the end of life. Donne through the course of this poem has shown that the
individuals do not need to fear death in the manner in which they have been used to fear since
1 Mueller, Janel, ed. John Donne: 21st-Century Oxford Authors. Oxford University Press, 2018.
2 Mueller, Janel, ed. John Donne: 21st-Century Oxford Authors. Oxford University Press, 2018.

2POETRY ANALYSIS
the traditional times. In this regard, he says that the individuals need to look upon the entity
of death as a slumber or sleep, which leads them to eternity or afterlife for that matter. This
becomes evident from the lines of the poem “we wake eternally/ And death shall be no more;
Death, thou shalt die”3. These lines have deeper meaning than they seem to represent. For
example, the poet in these lines might be referring to the death of his wife Anne More and his
own hopes that he would meet her in afterlife. The use of this technique not only defines this
poem but as a matter of fact all other metaphysical poetry as well, the genre of poetry, which
was established by John Donne. Thus, the poet at various sections of the poem instead of
using the Ovidian style takes the help of Baconian style and uses phrases like “soul's
delivery”, “One short sleep past” and others4. It is the cumulative effect of these two literary
techniques that renders beauty to the poem.
To conclude, the use of the techniques of brevity and metaphors were an essential part
of the metaphysical poetry. The effective use of these two literary devices pervades the poem
of John Donne “Death, Be Not Proud”. Furthermore, at various sections of the poem, the poet
takes the help of these two literary devices to convey the essence of the poem in an effective
manner to the readers. Thus, it can be said that the effective usage of these two devices
contributes in a significant manner towards the appeal as well as the beauty that the poem
under discussion here holds even in the present times.
3 Mueller, Janel, ed. John Donne: 21st-Century Oxford Authors. Oxford University Press, 2018.
4 Mueller, Janel, ed. John Donne: 21st-Century Oxford Authors. Oxford University Press, 2018.

3POETRY ANALYSIS
Reference
Mueller, Janel, ed. John Donne: 21st-Century Oxford Authors. Oxford University Press,
2018.