John Donne Poem: Divine Sonnet X – Death be not proud
To be honest with you I’m not big on poems in general and I came across this John Donne sonnet in Tom Wright’s book ‘Surprised by Hope‘.
Wright introduces this as “That well known piece“, which aptly demonstrates how ignorant I am of poems as I’d never heard of it, but I certainly appreciated this one.
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.
I was tickled by the reference to Papaver Somniferum poppies, but hey, t’was the 16th century.
For me the victorious culmination of the poem is the most potent and gripping aspect. The timely reminder of that most wondrous Christian hope, namely, death is defeated and will itself be subject to a final death…..wonderful.
Tags: Christian Life
July 28th, 2010 at 10:05 am
May I suggest reading some George Herbert, which provides a perfect foil to Donne? Alternatively some of Donne’s sermons make for interesting reading. The metaphysicals are magnificent at any rate.