Death, Be Not Proud
~John Donne
Mahdi Mallah
Jad shehimy
Mhmd Hmede
Poetry: is a form of art that is based on using the beauty behind
language to its full extent in order to provoke the emotions and
imagination of the reader using different rhymes and rhythms.
A poem consists of stanzas where each is formed of group of lines.
Sonnet: is a special type of poems that is made up of 14 lines and a
special rhyme scheme.
John Donne
John Donne is an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary. He was
born on the 22nd of January 1562 into a defiant, probably religious
family which could've been one of the reasons he became a priest in
England. Moreover he was considered the greatest representative of
metaphysical poets. His poetical work is noted for their unique sensual
style as they also include sonnets, love poems, religious poems and the
list goes on carrying his most famous poems ; The Flea, The Sun Rising,
The Canonization, Death, Be Not Proud, etc...But that's not all, the
English poet was also known for his lectures and speech. At the end
John Donne passed away on the 31st of march in the year 1631 (69
years).
Death, Be Not Proud
Background of the sonnet
A sonnet by John Donne, one of the 19 Holy Sonnets, published in 1633 in
the first edition of Songs and Sonnets. This devotional lyric directly addresses
death, raging defiantly against its perceived arrogance. The theme is that
death is unable to corrupt the eternal soul.
In this poem, the speaker affronts his enemy which is death personified. The
enemy most creatures are afraid of. But in this sonnet, the speaker scolds
him. After reading the poem we can tell the poet was definitely not scared of
death. The confident tone he used, the title (death, be not proud) and the
direct confrontation of death provides a sense of comfort to the readers as
he's suggesting that death is not to be feared at all, and in the end death will
be overcome by something greater.