Introduction of the Poem:
The poem entitled “Death Be Not Proud” is one of his popular “Holy Sonnets.” It deals with the theme of death. After Anne More's death in 1617, John Donne was haunted with the fear of death. He was highly dejected at the death of his beloved wife. He felt himself alone. His miserable condition forced him to follow the way of worshipping of God. He derived great peace of mind in God's shelter. He became highly religious - minded. The more religious - minded he became the greater was his consciousness of his sins. Soon the consciousness of his sins gave rise in his heart to the fear of damnation and it gave rise to the fear of death. The poem gives the message that there is no need to fear death.
Summary of the Poem:
The poet personifies death and asks it not to have the feelings of proud. In poet's attitude, death has great proud on its power. There are many people who suppose death mighty and horrible. But, in fact, it is neither mighty nor horrible for it cannot kill anyone. It kills only human bodies not their souls which are immortal and the part of divine. The people whom it supposes to have killed, do not die a mean death, but only fall asleep. The poet does not fear of death and says that it cannot kill him. He accepts death a way to the eternal life. Death is just like rest and sleep which form the routine of life. Rest and sleep are only images of death. As a great comfort and pleasure results from sleep, so greater comfort and pleasure must result from death. So, a great pleasure must flow to a dead person, from death. (In other words it can be observed that death is the greatest source of true pleasure and delight because it relieves man from the pangs of sorrows and sufferings of life). The virtuous people die young for God loves them. Death merely frees their souls from the prison of their bodies. Their bodies repose in the graves. As death brings rest and quiet, it cannot be regarded as dreadful in any way.
Death is not mighty. It has no independent power; hence there is no need to fear death. It is slave to the forces of destiny which plays a vital role in human life with the force of Fate and Chance. The role of chance too plays wickedly in bringing about death to someone. It is the rage of a King or revengeful attitude of a desperate man that a man is hanged or killed untimely. Untimely deaths are caused by the sudden spread of poison, war and disease also. There are various causes of death. Death cannot be regarded as glorious or mighty in any way. When the poet compares the sleep given by death with that of the sleep which comes under the effect of opium or magic spells, he finds that opium or magic spells can give a man more comfortable and pleasureful sleep than death. Death may be the cause of pain, grief and suffering before giving an eternal sleep to man. But opium or magic spells can make man free from pains and griefs and succeed in bringing a very sound sleep. In this way, the poet does not find any superiority in death and there is no reason at all for death to be proud of its powers. Death can make us sleep only for a short while. After our short sleep in the grave, we wake up in the other world and live there eternally. (According to Christianity, after death, there is no other death. Thus, in reality death does not kill us, but it is death itself which dies.)
Critical Appreciation of the Poem:
Introduction:
Donne's sonnet, entitled Death Be Not Proud is one of his Holy Sonnets: Divine Meditation. It deals with the theme of death. After the death of his beloved wife Anne More, Donne was badly haunted by the idea of death. He was completely drowned into the sea of gloominess. He felt that after his wife's death, his life lost meaning. He felt much lonely and dejected. He wanted mental peace and consolation. In order to preserve his normal state, he became a religious - minded person. He turned towards the adoration of God. He attained the way of spirituality. The more religious minded he became, the greater was his consciousness of his sins. Due to being a man of religious and spiritual nature, his fear of death began lessening. He came to know the real meaning of death and immortality of soul. Now he realised that death is rather a way out to the eternal life. There is great controversy taking the date of its composition. The date of its composition is supposed to be either Jan., 23, 1615 or August 15, 1617. It seems that Donne wrote this poem to free himself from fear of death and for the same cause, he gave religious interpretation of the nature and result of death. In this sonnet, he bases his belief on the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church.
Thought - Content:
This sonnet is addressed to death which is supported to be mighty and dreadful, but in reality it is neither mighty nor dreadful. The poet asks death not to be proud of its power. Some poets and writers have called it the most powerful and the most terrible form of human life. They call death a horrible truth. But the poet condemns this idea and rejects it by saying that death does not have any independent power. For those who are supposed to have died, do not die a mean death, but they sleep a long and peaceful sleep. Rest and sleep resemble death. Death kills only the human body not soul. Human soul is immortal. Death makes free man from the pains and sorrows of this physical world. In this way, death provides comfort and pleasure to man. Virtuous men are called by God very soon because they die in their youth or in a very short age. God does not want that the virtuous people should endure any trouble in this physical world. The poet calls death a slave. It is a slave of fate, chance, wicked persons, poison, wars and sickness. Death is not the cause, but the instrument. It obeys the call of accidents, kings, wicked murderers, poison, war, old age and sickness. It is not a free agent, but a miserable slave who lives in such a wretched company as sickness and old age. It cannot be regarded as glorious or mighty in any way. Opium or magic spells can give a man better sleep than the blow of death. There is no reason at all for death to be proud.
Moral Theme of the Sonnet:
Through this sonnet, the poet makes his utmost efforts to make free the hearts and minds of people from the great fear of death. He himself was the victim of the fear of death, so he too tries to free his mind from this fear. Death has established a dominating power over the minds of people. Due to great fear of death, they live a life of cowardice. The poet inspires them to live fearlessly for death is neither powerful nor horrible. He thinks that death has no independent power to kill anybody. It works under many other forces and actions to kill someone:
“Thou art slave to Fate, chance, kings and desperate men
And dost with poison, war and sickness dwell.”
The poet observes death as a source of great pleasure because it relieves man from worldly pains and sorrows.
The Poet's Conveying the Idea of the Immortality of Soul:
The poet, due to being religious minded, presents a truth about the immortality of soul. He thinks that death kills only human body not human soul because soul is the part of divine. After death, human body perishes into dust but soul travels to another world. Death, therefore, is not a matter of sorrow. It is a blessing for after death body gets rest in grave and the soul gets liberation from the bondage of body and worldly life. Death relieves man permanently from the tension of the worldly life. It wakes people from the sleep of worldly life to open eyes in eternity. It is thus death itself dies in this process for the man attains spiritual existence which is immortal and beyond the power of death. Shelley in his elegy ‘Adonis’ presents the idea that death is an awakening from the dream of life . When Keats is dead he comments:
“Peace, peace! he is not dead, he doth not sleep!
He hath awakened from the dream of life.” (39)
The Poet's Following the Doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church:
According to the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, the soul of a dead person is first of all purged of all its memories and sins of life. For the purpose, it is put into the fire of the purgatory. When purgation has purged it of all its memories of pleasures, pains, sins, etc., the soul wakes upto the glory of God. So, it keeps vigil throughout the long night of the grave. Particularly the souls of the virtuous keep vigil, which is waking up forever. After death, therefore, there is no other death, according to Christianity. So, the poet says that at death it is not person that dies. It is rather death itself that dies.
Donne's Contradictory Views:
According to Christianity, the souls of the dead sleep thousands and thousands of years, till Doomsday. Then Jesus Christ rises from the tomb, blows his bugle, and all the souls rise and are awarded the fruits of their doings. But Donne here says that after death “we wake up eternally”. So literally he is at variance with the above belief. Yet figuratively he means the same thing. He implies that after death the souls of the dead wake up from the sleep of life.
Poet's High Imagination:
The poet imagines that when a person rests or sleeps, he seems to be the very image of a dead person. So rest and sleep may be called only images of death. Since rest and sleep are pleasant, a great pleasure must flow to a dead person from death:
“From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be.
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow.”
He imagines about those virtuous people who are called by God very soon i.e., the virtuous die in their very youth. The poet thinks perhaps God does not want that the virtuous people should live midst the evils and sins of this materialistic or physical world. He cannot see them in trouble in this mortal world, so he calls them early.
“And soonest our best men with thee do so.”
He imagines that after death, the people do not die but get rid of the bondage of body and worldly life and they open their eyes in the eternal world where death does not exist:
“One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more, Death thou shalt die.”
Style and Language:
This sonnet does not follow the popular patterns of Italian and English sonnets. It has an octave consisting of two quatrains of four lines each. The rhyme scheme of the octave is: abba, abba. But the rhyme - scheme of the sestet is peculiarly Donne’s. It is: cdd, cee. Donne's thyme scheme has a typical feature. The rhythm of the poem is that of spoken language of an angry but pious priest. It is poetic rhythm close to the natural rhythm of speech, with mixed feet, and frequent single stressed syllables. The last two lines being in rhyme produce the striking effect of the concluding couplet in the English pattern. The sonnet ends with a paradox which the poet has already proved and established.
Finally it may be observed that the poem is great sonnet characterised by lyricism, impressive paradox, and strong dramatic speech rhymes. Its language is simple and is marked by the felicity of expression, sweet rhymes and noble thought.
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