" I need the summary of " Death be not proud " by Jonne Donne ????

Question

Thanx for responding !
God bless u ! :-)

Answer 1

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/deathbenot/
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John Donne
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Analysis on John Donne’s “Death Be Not Proud” (doc | html)

Death Be Not Proud
by John Donne
(1572-1631)
DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell’st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

Derick Ariyam
November 21, 2005

A Critical Analysis of “Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne

The sonnet “Death Be Not Proud”, written by John Donne around the year 1618, is one of many sonnets that are part of a collection called The Holy Sonnets. This collection is comprised of nineteen sonnets with themes that pertain to Christian philosophy.

“Death Be Not Proud” is a powerful declaration against death, in which death is personified as a tyrant without real power “…some have called thee / Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe” (1-2). The poem continues to dismantle death from something mysterious and feared, to something weak and irrelevant. The speaker’s main polemic is grounded in the beliefs of Christian philosophy, in particular, its promise of eternal life. But prior to this, the poem dismantles death from secular angles as well.

From a structural standpoint, the poem tightly adheres to the sonnet form, which is defined as a lyric poem that adheres to a conventional rhyme scheme and is usually made up of fourteen lines (Murfin, Ray 450). The rhyme scheme for this poem is “abbaabbacddcee”.

The poem attacks death from two different angles: a secular angle and a religious angle. The first twelve lines are mostly secular in the sense that a non-Christian can at least follow the argument. The last two lines require a belief in Christianity, and with this belief, comes the more powerful, irrefutable claim, dramatically stated in the words “And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die”(14), which pertains to the Christian concept of Eternal Life.

The first angle, the secular, the speaker starts with a feeling of disdain and loathing in the words used against death, creating an immediate pejorative connotation with this character. This is followed by flippancy and mocking: “Die not, poore Death, nor yet canst thou kill me” (4). Here the words “poore Death” are used to diminish Death’s formidability.

This line follows with another that has the same enervating effect, “From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, / Much pleasure; then from thee much more most flow” (5-6). Here the speaker, using logic, is stating that since death appears outwardly to be merely a sleep, and sleep being a pleasurable thing, death must be even more pleasurable.

Flippancy and mocking is then turned into disarmament as the speaker addresses Death as a slave, at the whim of external influences, “Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men” (9). This line intimates that death has no real power, but is merely summoned like an instrument without complete autonomy of its own will.

The last part of the poem, particularly in the last two lines, forms the more powerful and convincing argument against the fortitude of death; however, it requires a belief in Christianity.

According to Christian philosophy, those that believe in Christ will never die but live eternally, "That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John. 3.15 King James Version). This is not to imply that believers escape the natural course of all living things, which is to eventually cease from living, to die; death to Christians is not a ceasing of life, but rather, an entering into life, a better life, an eternal life. In essence, the earthly perishable body is left behind and the soul continues to live forever thereby escaping death:

"So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (1 Cor. 15.54).

In the aforementioned passage from the King James Version of the Bible, Saint Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians, again reiterates the Christian faith’s view of death as something “irrelevant”, a similar view that is taken in John Donne’s sonnet “Death Be Not Proud”.

The last line of the poem is the final thrust against death. It is a claim that death is meaningless, and a paradox. This is written as a recursive statement “…death, thou shalt die”(14). Since there is no death, the only thing left is Eternal Life.

But this poem is not merely a remonstration; it is also a passionate piece of writing that is imbued with emotion and sounds. Starting from the first line, “Death be not proud, though some have called thee / Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so” (1-2), the words that are chosen and their placement, adds a peremptory tone to this first declaration; these are lines that can not be whispered, but rather, belched out sonorously.

The entire poem follows in this manner, as a declaration loudly commanded. This continues up until the last lines of the sonnet, where the tone shifts to that of “finality”, “And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die” (14). Also, many of the words in this poem bear heavy connotations, “Thou are slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men” (9), the words “slave” and “desperate” are words with strong emotional connotations.

“Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne, is a sonnet from the revered Holy Sonnets that passionately argues against the formidability of death. The poem cites the Christian hope of Eternal Life as the ultimate escape from death, but does provide secular arguments as well that work in lightening the concept of death. But beyond this, the sonnet is a literary work of immense beauty and structure; it is a brilliant work from any point-of-view.



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8 Responses to “Death be Not Proud”
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1 jobinjohn
Oct 1st, 2006 at 1:11 pm

i like the poem ‘death be not proud ‘ its very good

2 mariejones
Nov 14th, 2006 at 9:41 pm

I would just like to say thank you for posting this essay - All I needed for my EnglishLit class was another essay to review and contrast the point of view on this poem, and I was so relieved when I finally found yours…It’s a really good piece of writing and definitely saved my butt!

3 Julian Kirkby
Feb 13th, 2007 at 3:39 am

This is so incrdibly useful, every other thing I found just had a dang copy of the poem not an explanation of what it is about, which is useful as it is such a complex piece of writing

4 Mary
Feb 19th, 2007 at 1:10 pm

thanks, this helped a lot.

5 melvin
Feb 22nd, 2007 at 9:22 pm

this is crazy my dad has brain cancer and he told me to read this poem he never knew who wrote it or why the author wrote it. i dont think my dad has much longer to live but this poem and the whole breakdown of it was great thanks .

6 amy
Feb 26th, 2007 at 4:14 pm

thanks,

It helped a lot with helping me gain knowledge of the poem. A friend told me to look into using it for a english assignment.I’m not good at poetry so I like seeing other people’s point of view.

7 Gabriel Castro
Mar 4th, 2007 at 2:49 am

Thank you very much sir for sharing your thoughts with us. I found your paper enlightening. It made me see various details I could not see.

8 Daedalus
Mar 18th, 2007 at 8:34 pm

Derick, I must say you have made an irrefutable synopsis of this great work. I too have studied this very work for academic and personal reasons. I found your take on it to be close if not exact to my own. Thank you for this unexpected and most likely unacknowledged synopsis, It’s definitely worth the read.

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Answer 2

Death Be Not Proud Summary

Answer 3

summary death proud jonne donne

Answer 4

In the book, he records the true story of his teenage son's struggle to overcome a brain tumor, and his ultimate death at the age of seventeen. The book, published in 1949, records in simple detail all the events and tensions that made up the months that Johnny Gunther fought for his life and his parents sought to help him through recourse to every medical possibility then known. Partly because of its stark honesty about the pain that this kind of struggle causes a family, and partly because of its refreshingly revealing portrait of a brilliant young man (he discovered a new way to liquify ammonia) struck down too young by incurable illness, Death Be Not Proud became a best-selling book that is still popular today. The story in the book was eventually made into a TV movie in 1975, starring Robby Benson as Johnny Gunther, and Arthur Hill as John Gunther.

http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/deathbenot/summary.html

Answer 5

RE:
" I need the summary of " Death be not proud " by Jonne Donne ????
Thanx for responding !
God bless u ! :-)

Answer 6

Thanks so much. The analysis is an eye opener. Now, a veil has been lifted. After Shakespeare's sonnets I can glide now to John Donne without much trepidation. More power to you.

Answer 7

http://www.eliteskills.com/c/11892