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Death, Be Not Proud POEM TEXT THEMES Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com Death, be not proud POEM TEXT THEMES 1 Death, be not proud, though some have called thee THE POWERLESSNESS OF DEATH 2 Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; In this sonnet, often referred to by its first line or as 3 For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow “Holy Sonnet 10,” the speaker directly addresses 4 Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. death, seeking to divest it of its powers and emphasize that 5 From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, man, though fated to die, is more powerful than death itself. The poem paints a picture of death as prideful—vain, even—and 6 Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow, works to deflate death’s importance by arguing firstly that 7 And soonest our best men with thee do go, death is nothing more than a rest, and secondly that following 8 Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery. this rest comes the afterlife, which contradicts death’s aim of 9 Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate bringing about a final end. With death’s powerlessness proven men, by the end of the poem, it is death itself, not man, who is going 10 And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, to die. 11 And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well The speaker clearly argues against death being treated as 12 And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then? something strong and important. In essence, he reasons that 13 One short sleep past, we wake eternally nobody who dies is actually dead. Though death is personified 14 And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die. as a boastful figure that proudly trades on its reputation as “mighty and dreadful,” the speaker, through logical argument, aims to show death as petty and weak. In order to build this picture of “poor death” as a pitiable figure, the speaker directly SUMMARY confronts death, insisting that “nor yet canst thou kill me” and quickly establishing the poem as a message of defiance. The speaker directly addresses and personifies Death, telling it not to be arrogant just because some people find death scary Death is then compared to sleep, one of the most commonplace and intimidating. In fact, death is neither of these things and beneficial of all human activities. eopleP generally feel good because people don’t really die when death—whom the speaker after sleep and rest, the poem reasons, so why shouldn’t they pities—comes to them; nor will the speaker truly die when feel good after death? Death is simply a rest for men’s death arrives for him. “bones”—their physical selves—while their souls move on to the afterlife. Comparing death to rest and sleep—which are like images of death—the speaker anticipates death to be even more Having established death as nothing more than a restful pleasurable than these activities. Furthermore, it’s often the passage between life on earth and the eternal life, the speaker best people who go with death—which represents nothing presents death’s more fearful properties—represented by more than the resting of the body and the arrival of the soul in images like the grim reaper—as comically inaccurate. One can the afterlife. read the speaker's declaration that “death, thou shalt die" as his assertion that that this idea of death as something frightening Death is fully controlled by fate and luck, and often and omnipotent will meet its end. The speaker of the poem thus administered by rulers or people acting desperately. The aims to flip death on its head—its pride is misplaced because it speaker points out that death is also associated with poison, is nothing for people to be afraid of. The speaker achieves this war, and illness. Drugs and magic spells are more effective than by literally talking down to death, making a mockery of its death when it comes to rest. With all this in mind, what possible inflated idea of itself. reason could death have for being so puffed up with pride? The poem also paints death as “slave” to earthly things, further Death is nothing but a mere sleep in between people’s earthly emphasizing death’s powerlessness. Death is associated with lives and the eternal afterlife, in which death can visit them no “fate, chance, kings … desperate men … poison, war, and more. It is instead death—or a certain idea of death as sickness.” It is completely of the earth, the speaker implies, and something to be scared of—that is going to die. depends upon earthly things for its existence. Death is not a master of anything, then, but a slave. Even as a form of rest, death isn’t all that impressive. Indeed, ©2020 LitCharts LLC v.007 www.LitCharts.com Page 1 Get hundreds more LitCharts at www.litcharts.com the speaker mentions “poppy” (opiate drugs) and “charms” mentioned, it informs the atmosphere of the quatrain's (magic and spells) as better means of obtaining rest. Thus proposition. Again, this sets up the standpoint of the poem's whichever way death is looked at, it’s inferior to something else. argument and it is from here that the speaker must prove why It is, essentially, irrelevant, summed up by the speaker's this argument holds true. question, “why swell’st thou then?” The speaker asks death In line 3, the alliterative use of /th/ sounds creates a delicate what it actually has to be prideful about. quality that juxtaposes with the idea of death as a powerful, Overall, the poem's presents death as having just one function: almighty figure. The enjambment from lines 3 to 4 suspends the to transition people between life and the afterlife. With its sentence—the reader, and Death as the poem's addressee, fearsome power dispelled, death itself can die. need to get to line 4 to understand what happens to those that supposedly die. The "overthrow" is literally thrown into a short Where this theme appears in the poem: suspense, and then completely undercut by "Die not." The very reason, then, for death's existence is based on an untruth. • Lines 1-4 Accordingly, the speaker again addresses Death directly using • Line 8 apostrophe, but this time adding the adjective "poor." Not only • Lines 9-10 does the speaker not fear Death—he actively pities it. • Lines 11-14 For the most part, the poem conforms to the Petrarchan sonnet rhyme scheme (with an important difference to come). Here, the rhyme scheme sets up "thee" from line 1 in opposition with LINE-BY-LINE ANALYSIS "me" in line 4. This puts Death on one side of the argument—the wrong one—and the speaker on the other. LINES 1-4 By the end of line 4, the poem is still in the proposition stage of Death, be not proud, though some have called thee the argument. The bold statement has been made—that death Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; cannot kill—and it is up to the rest of the poem to somehow For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow demonstrate this to be true. Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. As with many of Donne's poems, "Death, be not proud" starts LINES 5-6 boldly. While a sonnet might often be used to address a lover, From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, here death itself is personified and instantly introduced as the Much pleasure; recipient of the poem. The reader is, essentially, eavesdropping In the poem's second quatrain, the speaker's argument enters on the speaker's address to death. The word itself is its second stage. While the first quatrain established the capitalized—"Death"—which makes the personification obvious poem's main points of contention—that death shouldn't be by turning the word into a proper noun. The poem also begins proud because it isn't mighty or dreadful—the next few lines with apostrophe, which makes it clear that "Death" is the deal specifically with the videncee that supports these claims. intended listener. The speaker compares rest and sleep to death, suggesting that By personifying death, the speaker imbues it with the the former are images of the latter. This is part of the overall undesirable human characteristic of misplaced pride. Death has project to diminish death's power. Rest and sleep are, first and a self-inflated sense of importance and trades on its reputation foremost, entirely harmless activities. In fact, they are the as fearsome and final. The speaker acknowledges that some absence of activity and, in sleep's case, the "switching-off" of people view death in this way, but makes it clear that they conscious living. Furthermore, both rest and sleep have great shouldn't—and that the rest of the poem will prove why. benefits—and are essential to life. They are at once daily, Lines 2-4 expand on the opening proposition that Death is harmless activities and important ways for people to maintain wrong to feel proud, and that it is neither mighty nor dreadful. and restore good health. They are the necessary moments of Death thinks that it can "overthrow" life, which, as the fourth inactivity that make activity possible. Accordingly, the speaker line clarifies, means "kill people." Here, Death is characterized equates them with pleasure—rest and sleep make people feel as an aggressor.
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