Death Be Not Proud Analysis
Woody Allen once said, “I don't want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.” Allen refers not to living longer in age, but his memory living on and never being forgotten. John Donne, in Death Be Not Proud (Holy Sonnet 10), expresses the same logic, saying Death is not something to be afraid of and how the speaker has dominated it. Donne uses anthropomorphism, figurative language, and tone to show readers death is vulnerable and it is easily taken over with willpower.
Although death is not a living thing, Donne capitalizes the word in the first line, “Death Be not proud…” In lines three and fourteen, death is not capitalized. Donne uses anthropomorphism in the first line to incorporate the idea that “death” is believed to be very sinister and convey the feeling that death overpowers others. The speaker …show more content…
The dominance represented after this shift is supported by “wee wake eternally,”(13). We can infer Donne knows there is an afterlife and that after a short pass of intermission, one wakes up to a better life. The memory of the deceased is to live on not only in memory, but their souls releasing. Donne becomes hostile after the shift, referring to death as a “slave,”(9) dictated by “Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,”(10). Death cannot do things itself. Death is a manipulated idea that is thought to control your life when in reality it is weak, persuading others to do the work for it. Donne concludes the poem “death, thou shalt die,”(14). No longer is death killing creatures, but creatures defeating death by not being scared and accepting that it is all natural processes.
Death Be Not Proud by John Donne uses anthropomorphism, figurative language, and tone to address death and its allusion of a power. Do not be afraid of death, live your life, and when the end of life approaches, the life will be full of
Although death is not a living thing, Donne capitalizes the word in the first line, “Death Be not proud…” In lines three and fourteen, death is not capitalized. Donne uses anthropomorphism in the first line to incorporate the idea that “death” is believed to be very sinister and convey the feeling that death overpowers others. The speaker …show more content…
The dominance represented after this shift is supported by “wee wake eternally,”(13). We can infer Donne knows there is an afterlife and that after a short pass of intermission, one wakes up to a better life. The memory of the deceased is to live on not only in memory, but their souls releasing. Donne becomes hostile after the shift, referring to death as a “slave,”(9) dictated by “Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,”(10). Death cannot do things itself. Death is a manipulated idea that is thought to control your life when in reality it is weak, persuading others to do the work for it. Donne concludes the poem “death, thou shalt die,”(14). No longer is death killing creatures, but creatures defeating death by not being scared and accepting that it is all natural processes.
Death Be Not Proud by John Donne uses anthropomorphism, figurative language, and tone to address death and its allusion of a power. Do not be afraid of death, live your life, and when the end of life approaches, the life will be full of