The following Sonnet comes from a collection called The Holy Sonnets by John Donne (1572-1631). Donne wrote the Holy Sonnets during a specific phase in his life. He was struggling with many different things. He struggled for a period of time with the decision of whether or not to convert to Anglicanism. Then he had to struggle with the grief caused by the death of his wife. Read the following poem, do not pay any attention to its structure, tryto focus on its meaning.
Death, be not proud, though some have called 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.
From rest and sleep, which but thy picture[s] 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.
Thou'rt 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 ?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more ; Death, thou shalt die.
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Well, I have to say that this poem surprised me a lot. Death is not one of my favourite subjects to write or to talk about, but I enjoyed reading this sonnet thanks to the way the author expresses himself by the use of diction, it makes the reader feel confident in facing death.
We always have the worst impression regarding death, we are sure it is a terrible thing that happens all the time and so we are afreid to face it without fear; but on the contrary, it is one of the simplest and most certain things that is closely related to LIFE as it is part of life. By reading this poem it seems like if death can be defeated, we can defeat death, but I believe that it has to do with a natural way of facing death.In the first quatrain the author through the use of language conveys a sense of mockery regarding death, and I think that is the point in order to understand the implication of death in our life and bearing that in mind not to take this subject as something dreadful and terrible but as something natural, common, as the sonnet says: "One short sleep past, we wake eternally..."
Thank you July, for our thoughs, let me tell you that John Donne wrote this sonnet as part of a collection of others in a very difficult moment in his life, facing even the loss of his wife. Also, as a Catholic, he had to struggle in a context polically nd socially influenced by a Protestant world. So, shall we say he had reasons enough to get himself busy to write about death? Probably yes!e takes concepts from th Bible to write this sonnet, as you must hae seen (the comparison of death asa sleep, a short one though) and a constant use of on technique that was dealt with repeatly in class, wouldyou tell mewhich it is?
I think this sonnet is about Death, but here the author is not treating Death with respect, in fact he is laughing of Death, for example when he says: "not yet can you kill me"; "poor Death".
Donne tells us that we can't predict in what shape will Death appeared, when he writes "from rest and sleep, which but your pictures be".
The authors feels pity about Death because it is the "slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men", so Death is just a slave.
When he writes "and poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well. And better than you stroke, why swell'st you then?, I think John Donne is critizicen Death as something that has got nothing new to show us. Once again, the authors is laughing of it.
Finally, I want to say that I think this poem is connected with the period of live in which John Donne has to struggled with the death of his wife. Because in the two lasts lines he refers to "wake eternally", and maybe he wants to mean that now that they are dead nothing more could ever get them apart. So they are together eternally as a true love must be, because true love has no restrictions, even Death.
I think one of the techniques used in this sonnet is personification, as we can read throughout the entire poem: "death, be not proud", "poor death.." And as you have said Mr. Cazorla, the fact that he was a religious person, a catholic one, helped him understand the real meaning of death and he, the author, represented his thoughts and beliefs trough the use of personification of death, and that makes me feel that he understood death as a natural thing, so natural and real that he gave LIFE to it, as if death was a person just like anybody else.
First of all, I really liked this poem.
The theme of the poem is DEATH, a topic that the majority of people would prefer not talk about. However, the author introduces it in such a way, that I would dare to say that, it results funny. What is more, at any moment the sonnet becomes sad, dark or something similar. On the contrary, he mocks and laughs at death. Here the personification of death results underestimated by the author.” poor death”, he feels pity for it. “And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, and poppy or charms can make us sleep as well”. Death is compared to sleep, considering it no more than that and less than a stroke or the same poppy.
I agree with the idea of considering it as no more than death, something natural that everybody is going to face at any time. There is a song in which says that, “life is something we borrowed from God and we have to return it”.
I really appreciate the way in which something so “sad or feared” for many people, here is described as something insignificant.
Donne is trying to say that he is afraid of diying and that is hopping to bring relief to his own person, he is trying to give him self a consolation saying that althouth people have called death mighty an dreadful the only thing that brings death is pleasure an eternity after one quick sleep. He tries to disguise that fear saying death don’t glammer yourself of what you have done to mankind. That is nothing to be proud of!!!!!!!!
Thank you ery much Cecilia and Eliana for joining us in the discussion of this sonnet. Well, yes, Donne seems to be so worried about Death that in the end he just choses to diminish it, to give it a secondary role in life. Take into account that this he does pushed by his strong believes in the Catholic faith and the principle that Death is just a shor sleep, a rest. Eli, just on thing: back up your writing with lines from the text. Hugs to all!
This sonnet is about Death
the death it is a terrible thing that happens all the time.
the author mocks and laughs at death.
By reading this poem it seems like if death can be defeated, we can defeat death but as something natural, common, as the sonnet says: "One short sleep past, we wake eternally..."
this poem is about death. i enjoy really much it,for me death is somethig really interestig to talk and write. the author wanted to express what death is and describes it how one short sleep past and we wake eternally.
iam catholic and i believe that it´s not terrible, not dark.death is a pass to a better life where ours souls will be in plenitude with our creator(god).
In sonnet x John Donne refers to death as something natural and sure to come to men at some time in their lives. Death is a mystery and people wonder about it but they don’t find answers. Some thinks it is a horrible experience, others believe death is the end of pain. Donne concludes agreeing with catholic conception of death. It symbolizes the means to reach life, eternal life.
In this sonnet can be noticed that the author is at a point in his life that he feels he challenge, he has had an important loss, his wife.
To catholic te death is a way to catch heaven and it should not be feared at all. The death is a short sleep past to wake up eternally where most of them to meet with their sentiments
I think that the author trys to minimise death. Death doesn't have the power,doesn't have the decition of kill,It depends on a consequence of actions,he compares only with a short sleep because after a dream there is eternally life. The writer trys to show the people that death is something natural and we don't have to be afraid of It.
As we have agreed in class, this sonnet expresses a different idea about death. For most people, death is terrible. It is considered as an enemy who cannot be defeated. But in the sonnet the speaker has a different point of view. He thinks that death is extremely arrogant without having real reasons for that. He treats death as something unimportant. I like the poet’s idea about death, it is really hopeful. I also think that death is just part of life.
I think that this poem is a way to show us that love is unchanging with the past of time.
The love to Shakespeare is not alters, is a star that helps us find our way. He describe love as one of the better things in the life. When is true love.
In this poem Shakespeare use Alteration for example remover toy remover, metaphor for example:`` It is the star to every wandering bark´´.
He wrote this poem in Blank verse.
Shakespeare used to write this poem his own thinking about love because for him the love lasts for ever if the love is real. Also the people can enjoy good moments, share experience and maybe forget the troubles of the common life with this feeling.
This poem is a particulary way to explain Death. The Author trys to express his own opinion about death because he sees it like a step in our life, is part of it.
Ordinary people think that death is so terrible, and they are afraid with it.
John Donne thinks thaht death is our slave he laugh of it. He feels pity about death.
In this poen the author use repetition for example in line 6 ``Much pleasure then from thee much more must flow´´. Also use personification for example `` death be not proud´´.
I think death is horrible because I don`t have idea where I will go after death and I am afraid with the way that I would die.
Well, I like this poem. The author has a powerful attitude about how death means.
The author thinks that death is not so terrible, so dreadful as some people think. He laughs about it. He says " Death, be not proud..." an excellent beginnig, with no fear. And when I read this I felt the same. It was as the author convinced me to not has fear about death and I took a different thougt about it because I always think that death could my true end but he realizes that there is another life after our life, that death just is a part of our lives...
This sonet represents how weak death could be.
It was very complicated for me to analize this sonnet because the auhor refers to death in a particular way.To talk about DEATH make me feel petrified but it is something that happen to every people.I like the literary technic that he choices to write it (personification).I think that there is not another way to speak face to face with death.
The sonnet is clearly about death. The author wants to rest importance to death in our life, he is convinced and wants to convince the people who reads it, that death is just a blink between life in the earth and life in heaven, as catholics belives. He also he also insult death comparing it with poison, sicness and terribles things as war.
The sonnet has some technics as aliteration in the sixth line, for example: "...much more must...", this repetition of "m" gives music to the sonnet. Also there is a personification of death treating it as a common person even in a rude way,and i don`t know if i can say that there is a dialogue, because only speak the author but he speak directly to death, and it makes me feel that death is in front of him, listening carefuly to him.
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