DEATH BE NOT PROUD
John Donne is considered the pioneer of the Metaphysical Poetry. He wrote poetry with the use of the metaphysical elements. Except his Metaphysical Poetry he wrote “Holy Poems” We have discussed other Holy poems on our website. Click on the link below to see the page👇
DEATH BE NOT PROUD BY JOHN DONNE Is Holy sonnet in which the poet deals with the theme of death. Lots of people in this world are afraid of death because death is considerate very dangerous and mighty. The poet John donne presents altogether a new viewpoint of death in the present Sonnet. The attempt of the poet is to reduce or nullify affair of death in the present Sonnet.
The Sonnet is addressed by the poet to death itself. The poet suggests death not to be proud and suffer from superiority because death is neither dangerous nor mighty. Of course people consider it mighty and dangerous but in reality it is not so. Death believes that it kills people but truly speaking those people do not die. The poet challenges that it has no capacity even to kill him. The poet considers death nothing more than sleep and rest. Even the best of the people have gone with death the soonest so, there is no reason for anyone to be afraid of death. According to the poet, death means nothing but rest and sleep. If death is rest and sleep, pleasure to be derived out of it and not fear. Death means rest to the bones and soul to the delivered to a new life.
The poet considered death a slave of fate, Chance, King and Distress of a person. In other words death comes to a person only when that person is destined to die, only when a chance drags a person towards his death, only when King punishes someone with life penalty and only when a person kills himself because of distress. In brief such situations, leads a person to die.
The poet finds three dwelling places or residences of death. Death lives in poison, war and sickness or diseases. Such occasions bring death to a person. In other words it can be said that poison, war and diseases generally becomes the cause for the death of a person. Donne compares death with charms of motherly affection. The way death causes sleep to a person, chance of motherly affection also cause sleep to a person. But there is a difference of nature between the charms of motherly affection and that of death. Charms of motherly affection causes sleep in a mild way, softly and without shock. When the death causes sleep it is all of a sudden in a shocking manner and the person is not allowed even to realise the experience of it. The poet prefers sleep by chance to sleep by death. The poet tells death that there is no need for death to be proud of and to swell because after every sleep causes by death a person gets up eternally. This reflects donne’s faith in the theory of rebirth and heaven. The poet expresses his faith that after death a person gets eternal life by the way of going to heaven or by the way of rebirth. The poet concludes that if death is accepted with sportsman spirit and happily, death no more remains death for a person or an individual, death itself dies away.
The present Sonnet of John Donne does not have in it metaphysical images but it teachers as how we should accept death. There is no need for us to be afraid of it, we should accept it as an inevitable part of life.
