Holy Sonnet X: "Death, be not proud"

Summary

Death, be not proud is one of John Donne's Holy Sonnets, a group of religious sonnets probably written around 1609-1610, circulated in manuscript among friends and printed only after his death in the Poems of 1633. In Herbert Grierson's 1912 edition, followed here, it is Holy Sonnet X; the numbering differs among manuscripts and early printings. The poem is an apostrophe, a speech addressed to Death as a person, and from its first words it refuses Death the dignity of a fearful enemy. Some have called Death mighty and dreadful, the speaker says, but it is not; those it thinks it overthrows do not really die, and it cannot kill him either. The octave builds the case by logic. Rest and sleep are only pictures of death, and they give pleasure, so death itself should give much more; the best men go with Death soonest, to find rest for their bones and the delivery of their souls. The sestet turns from argument to insult. Death is a slave to fate, chance, kings and desperate men; it keeps low company with poison, war and sickness; and poppy or charms can put people to sleep as well as its stroke can, so it has no cause to swell with pride. The final couplet gives the decisive reason. After one short sleep the dead wake to eternity, and then death itself will be no more: death, thou shalt die. The poem is a Petrarchan sonnet in its octave (abbaabba) with a sestet that closes in an English couplet (cddcee), a combination Donne favored. Its confidence rests on the Christian doctrine of the resurrection of the body, and its last line echoes Paul's promise in 1 Corinthians 15 that the last enemy to be destroyed is death. Donne's original spellings in this text, such as soe, mee and poyson, are kept as Grierson printed them. The sonnet is among the most anthologized religious poems in English and is a favorite of readers facing grief and illness.

Plot or Argument

• Lines 1-4: The challenge

  The speaker addresses Death directly and denies its reputation: it is not mighty or dreadful, and those it seems to overthrow do not die, nor can it kill him.

• Lines 5-8: The argument from sleep

  Since rest and sleep, mere pictures of death, give pleasure, death must give more; good men go with death early to rest their bones and free their souls.

• Lines 9-12: Death's low company

  The sestet humbles Death as a slave of fate, chance, kings and desperate men, living among poison, war and sickness, and outdone by poppy or charms at bringing sleep.

• Lines 13-14: The death of Death

  After one short sleep the dead wake eternally, and death shall be no more; the poem ends by turning Death's own power against it.

Characters

• The speaker, Christian believer

  Addresses Death with scorn and logic, confident in the resurrection.

• Death, personified addressee

  Treated as a boastful figure who is shown to be weak, servile and finally mortal.

Lessons

• Arguing with death

  Donne does not merely console; he debates. The sonnet moves through premises (sleep is death's picture, sleep is pleasant, death serves lower masters) to a conclusion, showing that faith can reason and that fear can be met with argument as well as feeling.

  • What reasons does the speaker give in lines 5-8 for thinking death should bring pleasure?
  • Is the argument from sleep convincing on its own, or does it depend on the final couplet?
  • Why might a poet choose to argue rather than lament?

• Cutting death down to size

  Lines 9-12 humble Death by naming its masters and its companions. A thing that obeys fate, chance, kings and desperate men, and that poppy can rival, is no sovereign. The sonnet teaches that much of death's terror lies in its reputation, which the poem attacks.

  • Why call death a slave rather than a king?
  • What do poison, war and sickness have in common in line 10?
  • Why does the speaker mention poppy and charms?

• The resurrection as the ground of courage

  The last two lines give the sonnet's true reason for confidence: after one short sleep we wake eternally. Donne's boldness depends on the Christian hope of the resurrection, not on stoic indifference, and the final paradox makes death the one that dies.

  • How does death, thou shalt die turn the poem's opening challenge into a victory?
  • What would be left of the poem without the couplet?
  • How does this ending echo 1 Corinthians 15?

Context

Death was a daily presence in Donne's England: plague closed London's theatres repeatedly, many children died young, and Donne himself lost his wife Anne in 1617 after the birth of their twelfth child. Devotional writing taught Christians to prepare for a good death, and the Holy Sonnets belong to this tradition of meditation on the last things, sharpened by Donne's own doubts about salvation.

Composition

Most scholars date the Holy Sonnets to about 1609-1610, before Donne's ordination, though the dating is not certain. Like most of his poems they circulated in manuscript and were first printed in the posthumous Poems of 1633, with a different selection and order in 1635. Herbert Grierson's Oxford edition of 1912 established a scholarly original-spelling text.

Reception

After a long eclipse in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Donne was championed in the early twentieth century by Grierson and T. S. Eliot, and the Holy Sonnets became central to the canon of metaphysical poetry. Death, be not proud is one of the most anthologized religious poems in English and is often read at funerals.

Comparisons

• donne-sermons-and-devotions

  Donne's Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, written during a grave illness in 1623, and his last sermon, Death's Duel, return to the same confrontation with death in prose.

• because-i-could-not-stop-for-death

  Dickinson also personifies Death, but as a courteous carriage driver rather than a braggart; Donne argues with him, Dickinson rides with him.

• the-collar

  George Herbert, Donne's younger friend in the metaphysical tradition, also dramatizes a soul speaking boldly, though Herbert's speaker rebels against God and is called back.

• psalm-23

  The psalmist fears no evil in the valley because God is with him; Donne fears no death because death itself will end. Both rest on trust in God rather than on bravado.

• shakespeares-sonnets

  Shakespeare's sequence, printed in 1609 just as Donne's Holy Sonnets were being written, uses the English sonnet's closing couplet to set love and verse against time and death; Donne turns the same form toward faith in the resurrection.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• The opening apostrophe in lines 1-2, which addresses Death as a person and denies its reputation at once.
• The comparison of death with rest and sleep in lines 5-6, and the logic of more pleasure that follows.
• The list of Death's masters and companions in lines 9-10 and the mention of poppie in line 11.
• The final paradox of line 14, where the speaker turns the word die against Death itself.

Key terms and names

Holy Sonnets

Donne's group of nineteen devotional sonnets on sin, judgment, death and grace, most of them first printed after his death in 1633 and 1635.

Apostrophe

A speech addressed to an absent person or an abstraction; here the whole sonnet speaks to Death.

Octave and sestet

The two parts of a Petrarchan sonnet: eight lines that pose the case and six that answer it; Donne's sestet ends in a couplet.

Poppie

The opium poppy, used in Donne's day as a drug for sleep and pain, which the speaker says can rival Death's stroke.

Metaphysical poetry

Samuel Johnson's term for the witty, argumentative verse of Donne and his followers, built on surprising comparisons.

Resurrection of the body

The Christian doctrine that the dead will be raised at the last day, the ground for the couplet's claim that we wake eternally.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension What reputation does Death have, according to line 2, and how does the speaker answer it?
2. Comprehension Name the masters and companions of Death listed in lines 9-11.
3. Interpretation Why does the speaker say those Death overthrows die not? Is he denying physical death?
4. Interpretation Is the comparison with sleep in lines 5-6 a serious argument or a debater's trick?
5. Interpretation Why does the poem end with a couplet, and how does the final paradox work?
6. Interpretation Is the speaker's tone confident throughout, or do you hear fear under the scorn?
7. Big Question Can a person reason himself out of fearing death, or does courage before death require something more than argument?

Faith Connections

• 1 Corinthians 15:26, 54-55 (Scripture)

  Paul calls death the last enemy to be destroyed and taunts it, O death, where is thy sting? Donne's sonnet takes up Paul's taunt and his promise in its last line.

• Revelation 21:4 (Scripture)

  In the new creation there shall be no more death, the promise behind Donne's death shall be no more.

• 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 (Scripture)

  Paul speaks of believers who sleep in Jesus, the image of death as sleep that Donne builds into his argument in lines 5 and 13.

• John Chrysostom (attributed), Paschal Homily (Church Fathers)

  The Easter sermon read in the Eastern churches proclaims that the risen Christ has made death captive and repeats Paul's O death, where is thy sting?, the same triumphant mockery Donne gives his speaker.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Death is not mighty: those it seems to kill do not truly die. Sleep, its image, is pleasant, so death should be more so. Death serves fate, chance, kings and desperate men, and drugs can match its power. Above all, after a short sleep we wake to eternal life, and then death itself will end. Therefore Death has no ground for pride.

Rhetorical device: apostrophe and paradox. The whole sonnet addresses Death as thou, and line 14 closes with the paradox death, thou shalt die, turning Death's own action back on it.

Debate: Resolved: that the argument of lines 1-12 would persuade a reader who did not share the faith stated in lines 13-14.

Memory Work

One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally, And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe

Writing Prompts

Essay: Analyze how Donne humbles Death in the sestet, and argue whether the insults of lines 9-12 or the promise of lines 13-14 carry more weight in the poem.

Comparison with Because I could not stop for Death: Donne and Dickinson both personify Death. Compare the figure each creates, the speaker's attitude toward him, and what each poem suggests lies beyond death.

Medical Lens

The sonnet's argument rests on the old analogy of sleep as the image of death, and its sestet names the period's soporifics directly: poppy, that is opium, could bring sleep as well as death's stroke. Opium was a standard remedy for pain and sleeplessness in early modern English medicine, and the line records a lay awareness that the same drug could induce oblivion. Poison, war and sickness are listed as death's ordinary agents. Donne's own later illness of 1623, recorded hour by hour in Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, shows the same mind meeting physicians and fever at close range.

• Lines 5-6

  Rest and sleep are called death's pictures, the classical analogy of sleep and death on which the argument turns.

  Sleep Insomnia Death Dying
• Lines 9-12

  Death keeps company with poison, war and sickness, and poppy or charms are said to bring sleep as well as death's blow.

  Opium Laudanum Pharmacology Poisons Death Dying

Creative Prompts

• Classroom

  Outline the sonnet as a formal argument, numbering each premise in lines 1-12, and decide which premise the couplet adds that makes the conclusion follow.

• Dialogue

  Write Death's reply to the speaker in fourteen lines, then let the speaker answer with the closing couplet of Donne's poem.

Further Reading

• Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, John Donne

• John Donne: The Divine Poems, Helen Gardner (ed.)

  Standard scholarly edition, with discussion of dating and order.

• John Donne: Life, Mind and Art, John Carey

• John Donne: A Life, R. C. Bald