Analysis Of Death Be Not Proud

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Picture that you are in the school hallway and saw your bully smashed up against the lockers with a petrified look on his or her face. Once one has seen their own bully that has their own personal bullies to dread every day, one may derive a level of great pleasure and satisfaction from this. Unfortunately, this does not change the fact that your bully will continue to torment you on a daily basis. John Donne uses this imagery to describe how he perceived Death. Death should not be taken lightly. Conversely, Death is not as tough as one might perceive him to be, after all; death is rather weak then powerful and mighty given that it is only a much stronger version of sleep and is constantly serving others like a slave. The poem "Death be not Proud," opens with: "Death be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful."(Donne 1-2) Donne clarifies that Death has no room to brag or be proud of whom he is and that he should not be feared by anyone.
The speaker is demeaning Death in the poem and appears as conceited and confident. He assertively faces Death and shares his thoughts as if he were conversing with an actual person. Many people fear just the thought of Death because they believe Death to be the end. However, Donne makes the speaker fearless due to his strong Christian beliefs. The speaker considers him to be an honest Christian and remains sure that he will make it into heaven. By being such a devotee of Christianity, death in none other than a passage into another “ higher” life and there is no purpose in dreading it. The thing with faith is that it does not guarantee one a first class ticket into heaven, but the speaker knows that his faith is strong enough and is confident that God will not let him down. The...

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...ng to fear. Although one might argue that Death is mighty and dreadful, and that Donne is using such vivid imagery to make Death seem like he is nothing to run away from but to make Death more accepting in one’s life. We cannot push one's faith on one another, but Donne makes it clear that faith will help get through Death and defeat him. One defeats Death by awakening to an eternal life and that causes Death to be over, making man win. He believes that one’s faith is an eternal existence which makes Death meaningless. It is speculated throughout the poem by the use of literacy terms and vivid imagery, that Death is the entrance to eternal life. The final last words: "Death, thou shalt die"(Donne 14), gives the assumption that Death has died and he no longer exist. , as well as giving one the idea that Death should be the one afraid, and not the one to be feared.

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