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Death is Ineffectual in Donne’s “Death Be Not Proud” - College Paper

Death is Ineffectual in Donne’s “Death Be Not Proud”

Death is Ineffectual in Donne’s “Death Be Not Proud”

In “Death Be Not Proud,” John Donne characterizes and berates death as if it is a living being. This personification of death creates an impression that death is less powerful than man imagines.
In the opening couplet, “Death, be not proud, though some have called thee/Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so;” (1-2) Donne anthropomorphizes Death, addressing him at first as an equal and eventually as an inferior. The speaker’s attitude toward death is entirely different from those of ordinary men. With confidence and defiance, he calls upon death not to be proud. He states that there are men who are afraid of death, but that he is ...

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existence. The speaker challenges death with assurance that emanates from his strong faith in God. His strong faith is felt when he bluntly declares that death cannot kill him, but is instead the enabler of new, immortal life.
The second quatrain explains why death does not actually influence the world:

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. (5-8)
Despite the fact that death scares the majority of men, Donne exemplifies the benefits which can be brought by death. He insists that death does not always being grief and fear, but asks the reader to consider death as peaceful sleep and rest that restores the body’s energy. For that reason, he asks the reader, why be afraid of something that only brings benefits? Why be frightened? Interestingly, for those men who die young, he declares that death is relief–a pathway to rest and the ...

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Death is Ineffectual in Donne’s “Death Be Not Proud”. (2012, February 16). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Death-Ineffectual-Donnes-Death-Not-Proud/100315

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"Death is Ineffectual in Donne’s “Death Be Not Proud”." Essayworld.com. February 16, 2012. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Death-Ineffectual-Donnes-Death-Not-Proud/100315.

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PAPER DETAILS

Added: 2/16/2012 01:33:38 PM
Submitted By: mdm1962
Category: Poetry & Poets
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 814
Pages: 3

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