Death Be Not Proud
“Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne, is a great poem that passionately argues against the formidability of death. The poem cites the eternal life as the ultimate escape from death, but does provide arguments as well that work in lightening the concept of death. But beyond this, the poem is a literary work of immense beauty and structure; it is a brilliant work by the poet from all point-of-view.
Death is traditionally represented as a terror, as something mightier than the mightiest on the earth. The title is significant. John Donne commands death not to take pride in its own power. Though it may overthrow the rest of the people on earth, it cannot induce compelling fear to kill him. Death is no slayer. It is like rest and sleep which soothe our oppressed spirit. Rest and sleep are replicas of death. According to poet Rest and sleep gives pleasure of few hours where death gives the pleasure of eternity.
Death comes only once in anyone's life. That is why the best and the luckiest people go with the flow of death. They rest their physical and weary bones and are delivered to the next world in the after-life. Here they feel neither pain nor experience any more physical tiredness. Instead of being a master, death is a servant in the hands of fate; it is the result of accident, royal will, and reckless human action. It is another name of sleep and is even more inferior.
Death be not proud is among most famous poems, written by John Donne. The poem depicts that death must not act superior cause there are many things that can bring end to our lives like sickness, calamity, poison and so on. There are biblical reference that this life is short and once this life ends we will wake up for an eternal life. Hence death must not be proud because one will die definitely someday.
