Nguyễn Đình Như Hà

Poetry Analysis: Death Be Not Proud

Essay topic: Discuss the various attitudes toward death in John Donne’s “Death Be Not Proud”.
What is meant by the last line, “And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die”?
In the poem “Death, Be Not Proud”, John Donne challenges death and gives powerful reasons
for death not to be proud. Death is a phenomenon that many people fear and death makes the
heart of people broken down. However, in the poem, John Donne behaves like a warrior in
fighting this common concept.
Many people fear death and struggle to fight it. Unlike many, the poet has a different attitude
toward death, which is spiritual and insightful. Donne opens the poem with a defiant tone,
indicating his stand against death.
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for those are not so;
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, not yet canst thou kill.
The poet’s attitude toward death is entirely different from ordinary people. With confidence and
steady reasons, he again reminds that death not to be proud. The poet challenges death with
confidence, and the confidence erupts from his strong faith in God. His strong faith is felt when
he says that death can’t kill him. The poet also looks down death, he calls “poor death” to show
his strong faith that death means nothing but a mere sleep, as described in the following stanza
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.
The poet regards death like the image of sleep and rest. He believes that death can’t take
anything, but it gives rest and pleasure sleep. The poet asserts that death is merely a sleep, and
sleep being a pleasure thing and death is more pleasurable. Being a person believes in God, the
poet illustrates death as a rest – a rest for the tiredness of this life and then moving on a new life.
In the sentence “Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery” the poet states that death also take away
people’s life, but temporarily, it just rests their bones and release their souls.
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 well
And better than thy stroke, why swell’st thou then?
 The poet continually proves death not to be proud. Donne creates an image of death that
is not mysterious, not in control and a slave of slow status. The poet calls death a slave; a slave to
fate, chance, kings and a slave for men who kill themselves to show the connections with the
word slave. A slave is bound in submission to a master; therefore, having no say in what he or
she can does. The poet claims that when fate and chance call upon death, it is there. Or if a king
orders a person to death, and by what means he pleases, death again is at command. Death is also
enslaved by weak men who commit suicide. Then, death has no power, it is only an instrument.
He further reasons that death lives with poison, war, and sickness dwell. What is more, the poet
says that if death is proud of being able to make people sleep, there are other things such as
poppy and charms give people better sleep.
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
In the last two lines, the poet talks about life after death; the eternal life. The poet again
portrays death as a short death which will end with the dawn of eternal life. There, death will no
longer exist. Obviously, we can recognize the confidence of the poet in challenging death comes
form his strong religious faith in eternal life; a life has no shade of death. Donne ends his
admonishment “Death, thou shalt die”, the readers can sense that death is truly defeated for good
more. Donne tries to satisfy reader even if just for the moment. Although anxious things can
appear, then people can look back “Death Be Not Proud” to find peace and encouragement.
In summary, John Donne is so clever in writing the poem “Death Be Not Proud”. By
building of his own confidence and attitudes against the death, and personifying death, the poet
wants to show that death is less powerful than we think. Furthermore, the poet succeeds in
conveying his motions into readers’ mind. He changes readers’ thought of death. Obviously, all
readers after reading this poem, they will have another view on death, “Death, Be Not Proud”