Poetic Explication: John Donne's "Death be not proud"

"Death be not proud" is the tenth of the 19 holy sonnets written by the 17th century English writer John Donne. In this post, I will try to perform an explication of this poem.

This sonnet's main topic relates, very clearly, to death. Death is personified by Donne as an intelligent, powerful entity that is problematic to the people of the world. His objective in this poem is to almost deflate the idea of death from a monstrous, evil thing, to a permeable, flimsy idea. In his first two lines here, Donne tells Death that it is not as big and bad as everyone makes it out to be, and that it should not be "proud" of its false prestige. The next four lines confuse me, but within them, Donne claims that Death cannot kill him, almost as though he is more powerful than Death. Skipping down to line 7 and 8, Donne appears to admit that, in the end nobody, not even the "best men" can avoid death. He then makes a plea for their bones to rest while their souls are "delivered" (I assume to heaven). In the next two lines, Donne seems to reveal Death's flaw: that Death is a "slave" to the work of man. I believe this means that Death may only come when men kill or are killed, whether by "fate, chance" or the work of man. This idea is supported by the next line wherein Donne describes how Death dwells with things that kill (poison, war, sickness, etc.). Again, I am at a loss, the next two lines are a mystery to me. Donne speaks about poppies and charms (or something) and how they help with providing sleep (perhaps some sort of deterrence from Death?). In the last two lines, I assume that Donne speaks about an eternal wake, likely alluding to the day when all go to heaven, and never have to sleep again. There, Donne says Death dies, meaning the idea, and perhaps even the reality, of people dying ends.

This sonnet is about not only Death, but also about how we perceive it. It is only as strong as we allow it to be, and it is only beyond our power when fate takes the wheel, or when men act wrongfully. It is about religion and a deeper faith in God and the belief that entry into heaven will provide eternal life without Death.

I liked this poem. It was thought provoking and deep, and it gave me a light sense of hope. It taught me that Death may be inevitable, but fearing it only gives it greater clout.