crossref-it.info - AS/A2 English Literature Study Guides - texts in context.John Donne: Poem analysis » Death be not Proud » Commentary on Death be not Proud
Death be not Proud consists of a number of reasons why human beings should not fear death. However, rather than state the reasons as if talking to us, Donne turns to Death itself. He personifies and apostrophises it: he argues it into submission, till at the end he can state the paradox ‘Death, thou shalt die!’ triumphantly.
Death not the end
To understand the poem fully, we need to know three things:
- Firstly, that Donne genuinely had to wrestle with near fatal illnesses, and seems to have had difficulty in the past with the fear of death, fed by a strong sense of guilt
- Secondly, in the forms of meditation he and his contemporaries often used, a skull or ‘death's head’ was frequently on display! This was to focus thoughts on man's mortality and the need to live as free from sin as possible
- Thirdly, the Christian teaching on death is that it is not the end of life at all: that there is a resurrection and a judgement, and the life of the Christian believer will continue for eternity. Death, therefore, is seen as a rite of passage to something much better. A well-known biblical passage often read at funerals is 1 Corinthians 15:35-57.
More on resurrection: see The Exequy by Henry King
The poem is best understood as three quatrains and a concluding couplet.
First quatrain
The first quatrain states the theme, with its central paradox that those whom death touches do not really die. That is because of the Christian hope of resurrection and immortality. Paul writes, using the image of a grain of wheat: ‘it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body’ 1 Corinthians 15:44.
Second quatrain
The second quatrain takes the idea that sleep and death are allied, one being an image of the other (‘thy pictures’). Sleep is pleasant, therefore death must be, so why fear it? In fact, the best people, that is those who are most pure in their lives, die most quickly, because they know their soul will be ‘delivered’ into a new life.
Third quatrain
The third quatrain mocks death. Death is not in control of itself, but has to come wherever there is disease or war. So why is death so proud? Then he argues that opiates mimic death and much more pleasantly.
Concluding couplet
This leads on to the triumphant couplet, that we shall wake into eternal life and death will be finished. The triumphant couplet echoes Paul's triumphant question:
‘Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?’ 1 Corinthians 15:55, quoting Hosea 13:14
Where, O death, is your sting?’ 1 Corinthians 15:55, quoting Hosea 13:14
The poem is not an argument as such. Rather, it is a number of points piled up one upon another, not always quite logically connected, but nevertheless effective in building up to a climax.
Investigating Death be not Proud
Read the whole passage from 1 Corinthians 15
What do you notice about the difference in tone and argument?
In what way is mocking our enemies an effective way of dealing with them?
- Today's New International Version
- 35But someone will ask, 'How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?' 36How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39All flesh is not the same: human beings have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendour of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendour of the earthly bodies is another. 41The sun has one kind of splendour, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendour. 42So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45So it is written: 'The first Adam became a living being'; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. 50I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51Listen, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed - 52in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory.' 55'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?' 56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- King James Version
- 35But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? 36Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: 37And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: 38But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. 39All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. 40There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. 42So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 46Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 47The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. 48As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 50Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54So 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. 55O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
- Today's New International Version
- 44it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
- King James Version
- 44It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
- Today's New International Version
- 55'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?'
- King James Version
- 55O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
- Today's New International Version
- 14'I will deliver them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction? 'I will have no compassion,
- King James Version
- 14I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.
1. A turning aside to address someone directly in a poem.
2. The sign ( ' ) used to indicate the omission of one or more letters or to denote possession in a noun.
A figure of speech wherein an apparently contradictory set of ideas is presented as being, in fact, part of the same truth.
Christian devotional practice in which a verse of the Bible or some aspect of the Christian life is held in prayerful and focused thought, until some deeper aspect of its reality manifests itself.
Disobedience to the known will of God. According to Christian theology human beings have displayed a pre-disposition to sin since the Fall of Humankind.
Name originally given to disciples of Jesus by outsiders and gradually adopted by the Early Church.
Literally, rising to life again. In the Bible it is specifically applied to Jesus Christ's coming to life after his crucifixion; and from thence, to the hope of all believers that after death, they will be raised to a new life in heaven.
1. Wisdom.
2. A decision about guilt, and / or the passing of sentence by the person presiding over a court of justice.
3. In the Bible, God's verdict on human behaviour especially on the Day of Judgement at the end of time.
Relating to, or contained in, the Bible. The Christian Bible consists of the Old Testament scriptures inherited from Judaism, together with the New Testament.
A 4-line stanza, usually rhyming.
A rhyming 2-line unit of verse.
A figure of speech wherein an apparently contradictory set of ideas is presented as being, in fact, part of the same truth.
The 'Apostle to the Gentiles' (d. c. CE 65). Paul had a major role in setting up the Early Church and is believed to be the author of several letters in the Bible.
1. Imitation, copy, likeness, statue, picture in literature, art or imagination.
2. A figure of speech in which a person or object or happening is described in terms of some other person, object or action (i.e. as a metaphor or simile)
A 4-line stanza, usually rhyming.
The spirit which gives life to a human being; the part which lives on after death; a person's inner being (personality, intellect, emotions and will) which distinguishes them from animals.
A new quality of life, beginning in the present but continuing after death, which Jesus is said to offer to those who believe in him.
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