Write a critical appreciation on ‘Death Be Not Proud’.

 The poet addresses death in the sonnet “Death, Be Not Proud”. Here, the poet does not speak of the power of death or its inevitability. He reprimands death for being too proud and remarks that for him death doesn’t hold sway over the world nor can it overpower him individually. He argues that death is “for those whom thou think’st, thou doest overthrow/die not”. The poet also calls Death “poore” – it is not human beings who are the subject of pity but death itself deserves that denigration. Note the assurance in the poet-subject’s words “nor yet canst thou kill me”. He says death makes a picture of sleep and rest, while life keeps on moving. When the best of men are taken by death, they shed only the bodily form.

Donne also suggests that death lives in the company of disease, squalor and war. Simultaneously, he says that Death is a “slave to fate, chance, kings and desperate men”.

Both fate and chance can cause deaths, kings can order executions, and desperate men unthinkingly may kill people. The poet strips death of its power as an independent agency. He suggests that to reach eternity we don’t need death since “poppie and charms can make us sleepe as well/ and better than thy stroake”. Death stands rebuked for swelling in conceit. Donne projects an unenviable picture of death. Donne has personified death throughout the poem, stating it should not be proud. Being proud is a human quality. Hence, death is given a human quality of having feelings and emotions. Donne has also used metaphors in this poem. The first is used in the opening line “Death, be not Proud.” Here, death is compared to a proud man. The second is used in the ninth line, “Thou art slave to fate.” In the last line in an extended metaphor where death is compared to the non-existent or unrealistic object.

The major theme in “Death, be not Proud” is the powerlessness of death. It comprises the poet’s emotions, mocking the position of death and arguing that death is unworthy of fear or awe. Death gives birth to our souls. Thus, it should not consider itself mighty, or superior as ‘death’ is not invincible. The poet also considers death an immense pleasure similar to sleep and rest. For him, the drugs can also provide the same experience. The poem foreshadows the realistic presentation of death and firmly believes in eternal life after death. The poet has presented death as a powerless figure. He denies the authority of death with logical reasoning, saying the death does not kill people. It liberates their souls and directs them to eternal life. He does not consider it man’s invincible conqueror. Instead, he calls it a poor fellow without having free will. The arrival of death is also compared with a short rest and sleep that recuperates a person for the upcoming journey. The poet’s denial to the conventional approach of death gives the reader a new interpretation. Donne has personified death throughout the poem, stating it should not be proud. Being proud is a human quality. Hence, death is given a human quality of having feelings and emotions.

John Donne revolted against the Elizabethans in manner and in matter. He rejected the sweet, idealized Petrarchan, Platonic and Arcadian style and brought into English poetry intellectualism, complexity, analysis farfetched imagery, wit, medieval scholasticism and naturalness. He is not a metaphysical poet in the strict philosophical sense. He is a metaphysical poet because of his style, wit, imagery and intellectualism, and also because he is thoughtful and imaginative besides being aware or the clash between the older physics on the one hand, and the new science of Copernicus and Galileo and Bacon on the other. He is not a representative poet of his age. But he was well aware of the iron age’ which he satirizes. His poetry creates nety thoughts and expresses them in a new manner. He yoked together heterogeneous ideas forcibly. His mind was nearer to Medievalism than to the Renaissance. He adopted medieval mysticism and scholasticism enveloping them within intellectualism. So his poetry contains experiences which appeal to the modern mind. His lyrics are the cries of the Nightingale of the Jacobean Choir! His rhythms are unconventional. His satires are rich in thought and wit. But they are ‘harsh, witty, lucid, full of a young man’s scorn offools’ and low callings, and a young thinker’s consciousness of the problems of religion in an age of divided faiths and oljustice in a corrupt world. As a poet of love he is superb. In range and poignancy he is the greatest of love poets. His love is based on his experiences. There are three strains in his love poetry – the cynical showing contempt for women and their inconstancy; the Platonic expressing the union of souls and making it a spiritual realization and the conjugal emphasizing the physical and sensual pleasure. His conception of love differs from that ofhis contemporaries.

His style is remarkable for its elaboration of a figure with ingenuity with its rapid association of thoughts, with its telescoping of images and multiple associations with its heterogeneity of material. The simplicity of language and complexity of expression make his vocabulary plain and pure. His rhythmic movement depends on his subtle, doubling and shiftings of the stress. The opening of his poem is generally dramatic. He offers dramatic debates in verse. John Donne is a great wit. His wit is new and natural, intellectual and ready-made, original and sincere. Wit is his very genius, and it fashions his feelings and thoughts. Even passion, sentiment and sensuality are controlled by wit. He is one of the great image-makers. He gives sonorous and startling imagery. There is a great variety of experience in his conceits which are often far-fetched and fantastic. They are derived from science, nature, religion everyday-world medieval scholasticism, new philosophy and learning. They are witty. Although Donne is the first poet in the world in somethings”, yet he has some faults. “Donne”, added Ben Jonson, “for not keeping of accent, deserved hanging. His tone is harsh and rugged. His irony is bitter and humour coarse. His sentence structure is complex, and his meaning is obscure.” Goose remarks. His writings, like his actions, were faulty, violent a little morbid and even abnormal.

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