Death Be Not Proud Poem Analysis Essay

Poetry Assignment Death is something that we all must deal with at some point time in our lives. It will have many forms; whether it comes from the death of our family members, friends, or even our first initial acknowledgment of our own imminent demises. However, we must not fear death then irrationally and allow its power of fear to overtake us for we then will lose our only advantage that we have over it, our love of life. Without this love of life, there is no meaning and death becomes the only aspect of our lives. John Donne stresses these points immensely in his poem “Death, be not proud” for Donne creates a work that acknowledges these ideas and support his message that death is not all powerful. In the first line of the poem Donne explains that Death should not be given the respect that we always view it with by stating, " Death, be not proud, though some have called thee," and feels that it is necessary to establish this point immediately. By starting this poem with this claim, Donne is able to introduce his leading to point to his audience and therefore, Donne is able center his poem around this idea. This fist line also demonstrates to us how Donne …show more content…
To help further enhance this idea of Death being comparable to sleep or rest, Donne describes them as, "pictures," or small glimpses of what Death will be like, resulting in the readers becoming less dismayed by the idea of Death. If that was not enough to further take away intimidation from Death, Donne goes on to explain to his readers that because we gain pleasure from rest or sleep, and since those are just glimpses, what we are to gain from Death must be extremely gratifying. This will be the result of Death sending us off to heaven which Donne believes will be the apex of our