Holy Sonnets: Death, be not proud
By John Donne
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
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.
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 as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
This sonnet is not merely an expression of defiance; it is a reasoned and erudite
unravelling of personified death’s perceived power over humanity. Donne addresses
death directly, eroding its reign of terrors with logic, wit and faith. The sonnet
presents a powerful statement of hope rooted in Christian doctrine.
The speaker makes a direct address to a personified ‘Death’. The speaker presents an
argument to undermine the basis upon which ‘Death’ derives its pride in being able to
‘overthrow’ human life. In essence the speaker’s argument is that the afterlife in heaven
salvages us from death as he defiantly states “nor yet canst thou kill me”. Death is the
deliverance of the souls of all humanity. In the Bible God promises an afterlife; the book
of John states “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”,
The speaker strips death of all its assumed power by focusing on the gift of salvation of our
souls given by God. This is preceded by an acknowledgment that ultimately we all die :
“And soonest our best men with thee do go”. By virtue of this acknowledgement the
speaker takes all power away from death. The speaker proceeds to state that any power that
death has lies in such things as “fate, chance, kings and desperate men”. Fate and
chance refer to the random and unpredictable nature of death and thus the speaker
concedes that this element wields a power over death itself; kings use death as a threat and
thus claim the power for themselves. It may be inferred that the reference to ‘desperate
men’ is a reference to men who have sinned and thus fear that they have foregone the
afterlife promised by God and they therefore fear death. The speaker is stating that death is
By John Donne
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
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.
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 as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
This sonnet is not merely an expression of defiance; it is a reasoned and erudite
unravelling of personified death’s perceived power over humanity. Donne addresses
death directly, eroding its reign of terrors with logic, wit and faith. The sonnet
presents a powerful statement of hope rooted in Christian doctrine.
The speaker makes a direct address to a personified ‘Death’. The speaker presents an
argument to undermine the basis upon which ‘Death’ derives its pride in being able to
‘overthrow’ human life. In essence the speaker’s argument is that the afterlife in heaven
salvages us from death as he defiantly states “nor yet canst thou kill me”. Death is the
deliverance of the souls of all humanity. In the Bible God promises an afterlife; the book
of John states “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life”,
The speaker strips death of all its assumed power by focusing on the gift of salvation of our
souls given by God. This is preceded by an acknowledgment that ultimately we all die :
“And soonest our best men with thee do go”. By virtue of this acknowledgement the
speaker takes all power away from death. The speaker proceeds to state that any power that
death has lies in such things as “fate, chance, kings and desperate men”. Fate and
chance refer to the random and unpredictable nature of death and thus the speaker
concedes that this element wields a power over death itself; kings use death as a threat and
thus claim the power for themselves. It may be inferred that the reference to ‘desperate
men’ is a reference to men who have sinned and thus fear that they have foregone the
afterlife promised by God and they therefore fear death. The speaker is stating that death is
