Emily Dickinson Death Be Not Proud

Emily Dickinson and John Donne might not seem to have very much in common. They were two poets who lived almost two hundred years apart, on different continents, what could they possibly have in common? However, their poetry holds a common theme. Emily Dickinson had a fascination with death and wrote many of her poems on the subject of death and dying. Likewise, John Donne wrote a few poems about death but, unlike Dickinson, his poems held more of a religious perspective. In particular, death is the major theme of “Death, Be Not Proud” by John Donne, “Because I Could Not Stop For Death,” and “I Heard a Fly Buzz- When I Died-” both by Emily Dickinson. John Donne wrote his poem titled “Death Be Not Proud” on the topic of death as one might assume after reading the title. Donne writes “nor yet canst thou kill me” (“Death, Be not Proud” 4) speaking of the fact that though Death might think of himself as very powerful, but he can never truly kill a Christian. The poet personifies death, speaks directly to him, telling him not to be proud “though some have called thee mighty and dreadful” (2). …show more content…
In the poem, the speaker says that she is dying in a room full of stillness “between the heaves of storm” (“I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died” 4) alluding to the burst of tears that would come from those in the room. She has signed her will. Everyone awaits her imminent death. As the narrator takes her last look at the light “there interposed a fly” (12). The fly distracts her from her coming death and almost provides comic relief to the reader. This poem reminds the reader of how quickly death comes and of the ordinary circumstances that are still present even at such a somber place as a death bed. Emily Dickinson has an odd but interesting view of death that she presents in her