Death be not proud

Save and print this worksheet!

"Death be not proud" is part of a collection called "The Holy Sonnets". John Donne, an Anglican priest and a very religious man, looks at the theme of death, something that scares most people. He points out that one should not in fact be afraid of death at all because it is simply the gateway to another happier, eternal life.

The poet in fact personifies death, speaking directly to it as if it were a person. He accuses Death of having absolutely nothing to boast about because, in the end, Death has no power whatever.

"Death be not proud" is based upon the following extract from the New Testament:

"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed -- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet . . . then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?' The sting of Death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:51-57)

It is an Elizabethan sonnet, having 14 lines, divided into three quatrains and a rhyming couplet. The quatrains deal with the chief theme of the sonnet, and the rhyming couplet concludes the argument.

Each line of the sonnet has 10 syllables of iambic pentameters -- i.e. there are five feet (called pentameters) and each foot contains a short syllable followed by a long one (iambic).

The rhyming scheme in this sonnet is a simple one:
abba, abba, cddc, ee

Note: The rhyming couplet at the end is usually a sign that one is looking at an Elizabethan sonnet.

Read the left column and then answer
the following questions:


"Death, be not proud, though some have calléd thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me."

• Why does the poet tell Death not to be proud? (4)

[Need help?]

This sonnet deals with death and everlasting life. It is a paraphrase of a famous text from Scripture -- 1 Corinthians 15:51-57 -- in which Paul asks the question: Death, where is your sting? Paul argues that there is no sting in death because death simply leads to everlasting life. John Donne then asks the question: Why should Death be at all proud? After all, Death is really a loser. Indeed, eternal Life will always be the winner.

• Comment on the use of personification in this quatrain -- and, indeed, in the sonnet as a whole. (4)

[Need help?]

The poet is merely following the example of the great New Testament scholar Paul, who in his famous letter to the Corinthians, did exactly the same thing. Paul chose to present Death as a person because it is much easier to make fun of a person than it is to humiliate an abstract noun. John Donne too makes Death appear as a person who is to be ridiculed.

---

"Thou'art slave to Fate, Chance, kings and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke. Why swell'st thou then?"

• In what way can Death be described as being a slave? (4)

[Need help?]

What causes death? People don't just die! When one thinks about it, one has to conclude that people die of something. Perhaps sickness takes them off. Or maybe a murderer kills them. Or possibly a tyrannical king decrees a death sentence. In all of these cases, Death has no option but to come along and claim the victim after someone or something has caused them to die. Death therefore has no freedom at all. Indeed, Death is simply a slave to all these things which cause people to die.

• Why does the poet ask, "Why swell'st thou then?" (4)

[Need help?]

This, of course, is a repeat of the opening statement of this sonnet. One swells up with pride. And yet the poet has argued that Death has absolutely no reason to be proud. Why then should Death swell up?

• What is meant when the poet says that "poppy or charms" make us sleep as well? (4)

[Need help?]

When a certain species of poppy seeds is crushed, it produces a paste called opium which, when heated, gives off a smoke that produces a wonderfully peaceful hallucinatory sleep. Traditionally, this was smoked by means of a hookah. If you don't know what a hookah is, have a look at the picture of the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland -- he was smoking opium with a hookah! By the way, the caterpillar was also sitting on top of a magic mushroom which causes hallucinatory dreams as well. The poet is making the point that the dreams which emanate from these drugs are much better that the dreams that Death hopes to impose.

• Why is there an apostrophe in "think'st" and "swell'st"? (2)

[Need help?]

It all comes down to the structure of the sonnet. Each line of the sonnet has 10 syllables. If the poet were to write "thinkest" and "swellest", he would create more than 10 syllables for those lines, and then the sonnet just wouldn't scan. So he has to shorten the syllables by converting "think'st" into a single syllable. "Swell'st" must also become a single syllable.

---

"One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more. Death, thou shalt die."

• What difference would there be if the poet had used "will" instead of "shall" -- as in "Death will be no more. Death, thou wilt die"? (4)

[Need help?]

The words "shall" and "will" have different nuances. As one correspondent puts it, "will" means "it's going to be like that", i.e. there will be no arguments, whereas "shall" always means "it's going to be like that because I say so" -- which is why "shall" is used more in the first person. If I said "I shall go", it would mean that I shall go unless something stops me. On the other hand, if I said "I will go", it would mean that nothing will get in the way of my going! "Death, thou shalt die" therefore is a command. Nothing will get in the way of Death's demise. Death shall die and there is no further argument about it!

• Comment on the paradox in the conclusion, "Death, thou shalt die". (4)

[Need help?]

A paradox is an apparent contradiction. How can Death die? But, after death comes eternal life, which means that there will be no further place for death. In that sense, Death will die!

---

GENERAL QUESTIONS

• This poem is clearly a sonnet but what type of sonnet? Give clear reasons for your answer. (4)

[Need help?]

There are two types of sonnets: Shakespearian or Elizabethan sonnets, and Petrarchan or Italian sonnets. Each has 14 lines, with each line having 10 syllables that can be broken up into 5 feet (pentameters) of an unstressed and a stressed syllable (iambic) -- hence iambic pentameters. The first 12 lines of the Elizabethan sonnet can be broken up into three sets of four lines each -- called QUATRAINS. A giveaway, however, is the RHYMING COUPLET at the end which concludes the argument of the sonnet. In the Petrarchan sonnet, the OCTAVE -- first eight lines -- presents one argument while the SESTET -- the last six lines -- presents a second argument. The rhyming scheme of the sestet is usually something like efefef or efgefg. There is no rhyming couplet. "Death be not proud" is therefore an Elizabethan sonnet although perhaps the rhyming couplet is a problem because in modern English it appears not to rhyme. In Donne's day, however, the poet would have said "eter-na-lie" and not "eter-na-lee".

• Why does the poet address Death with the titles "thee" and "thou"? (4)

[Need help?]

"Thee" and "thou" were early English ways to address important people, rather like the modern Afrikaans "U". One always therefore used to address God as "Thee" (some churches still do). In this sonnet, the poet uses this form of address for Death, therefore personifying Death as a very important person.

---

Try another worksheet? See also: Knowledge4Africa.com English4Africa homepage