Death, the word itself makes you question the authenticity of existence. We are all aware of the fact that one day we will die, one day this life will come to an end. Life is considered merely a lie, a dream from where we will wake up one day. It is a journey leading us to our final destination, death.
Each one of us is terrified of death and the life after, that’s
why we say to the death ‘not today’. All these concepts contribute to the
superiority of death. So, if death was a person, it would have been a proud and
ostentatious one.
This Sonnet Death, be not proud was written by a
poet named John Donne. He was famous for his metaphysical poetry and collection
of Holy Sonnets. He wrote many poems regarding different topics, specifically
about love and religion. Donne is known for breaking the tradition of
Petrarchan Poetry and adapting it in his work. This poem is also from the
collection of his Sonnets.
In this poem, Death, Be Not Proud, Donne is personifying and talking to death. He sees death as a proud person because everyone is scared of him. Death considers itself very powerful in taking the life of people. But the poet exposes to him that he is nothing but a path between this life and the hereafter. It is just like resting and sleeping when you are tired.
Donne considers death more pleasurable than sleep or rest as you are
free from the worries of this life. The more good you are as a human in this
life, the sooner you meet death as to give your soul some rest. Death has many
ways to approach people, some of them very ugly including war, poison, and
other destructive ways. But it always leads to a better end.
Although death might be a relief for eternity from this life there
are also alternative ways to get rest and sleep. Those methods can include
either magic or drugs which are better than death, so death has nothing much to
be proud of. Moreover, when a person dies, he is just shifting to another
world, not dying in actual means. However, death itself dies after taking away
a person’s life as it will never come back.
The article is written by Hafsah Afridi, one of the contributors at the School of Literature.
