Deat

h,BeNotPr
oud
Summar
yoft
hepoem,
“Deat
h,benotPr
oud”
 Popul ar i
ty :
 Al soknownasHol y  Sonnet  X, t
hissonnetwas
wr i
ttenbyJohnDonnei n1633.JohnDonnewas
a famous  met aphy si cal poet .Thepopul ar i
tyoft hi s poem  l
iesi n
i
t suni que  subj ect,asi twasadev otional aswel l asawar ningt o
‘
per soni fi
ed’ deat h. Usi ngt he met aphor  ofdeat h, thepoet
arguest hatdeat hisnotper manentandi tser vesasanet ernal
pat hwayt ol ifeher eaf ter.Heal sohasdemonst rat edt he
Chr istiandoct rineofr esur rectionandi mmor talityoft hesoul ,
callingdeat hasani nfer i
or
 “Deat h, benotPr oud”ar epresent ativePoem ofLogi c: 
Donne
haspr esent eddeat hasapower lessf i
gur e.Hedeni est he
aut hor i
tyofdeat hwi thlogi cal reasoni ng, sayingt hedeat hdoes
notki ll peopl e.Inst ead, itli
ber at est hei rsoul sanddi rect sthem
toet er nal life.Hedoesnotconsi deri tman’ sinv incibleconquer or.
Instead, hecal l
si tapoorf ellowwi thouthav i
ngf reewi ll
.The
arrival ofdeat hi sal socompar edwi t hashor trestandsl eept hat
recuper at esaper sonf ort heupcomi ngj ourney .Thepoet ’
s
deni al tot heconv ent ional appr oachofdeat hgi vest her eadera
newi nt erpr etat i
on.
 Maj orThemes“ Deat h, benotPr oud” :
 Themaj or  theme  i
nt he
poem i st hepower lessnessofdeat h.Thepoem compr i
sest he
poet ’semot i
ons, mocki ngt heposi tionofdeat handar guingt hat
deat hi sunwor thyoff earorawe.Accor dingt ohi m, deat hgi v es
birtht ooursoul s.Ther ef ore,itshoul dnotconsi deri tselfmi ghty ,
orsuper ioras‘ deat h’ i
snoti nv inci ble.Thepoetal soconsi der s
deat hani mmensepl easur esi mi lart osl eepandr est .Forhi m,
thedr ugscanal sopr ov idet hesameexper ience.Thepoem
foreshadowst her eal i
sticpr esent ationofdeat handal sof i
rml y
believ esi net ernal lifeaf terdeat h.

Anal
ysi
soft
heLi
ter
aryDev
icesi
n“Deat
h,benotPr
oud”
Li
ter
arydev
icesar
eusedt
obr
ingcl
ari
ty,
richness,
anduni
quenesst
o
thetext
.Donnehasusedv ariousli
ter
arydevi
cestoal
l
owreaderst
o
tryt
of i
ndmor ei
nterpr
etat
ions.Theanalysi
sofsomeoft
helit
erar
y
devi
cesisgivenbelow.

 Per soni fication: Per soni ficat ion meanst oattribut ehuman

featur est onon- humant hings.Donnehasper soni f i
eddeat h
throughoutt hepoem, st atingi tshoul dnotbepr oud.Bei ngpr oud
i
sahumanqual i
t y.Hence, deat hi sgivenahumanqual i
tyof
hav ingf eelingsandemot ions.
 Met aphor :
 Therear et hreemet aphor sinthispoem.Thef ir
stis
usedi nt heopeni ngl i
ne“ Deat h, benotpr oud.”Her edeat hi s
compar edt oapr oudman.Thesecondi susedi ntheni nthline,
“Thouar tslav etof ate.”I nt hel astl ineinan  ext ended
met aphor  wher edeat hi scompar edt othenon- existentor
unreal istic object .
 Alli
ter ation:  
Alli
ter ati
on  ist he  repet it
ion ofthesameconsonant
soundsi nt hesamel i
nesoft hepoet r
ysuchast heuseof/ t
h/in
“And  bet ter t
han  thyst r
oke; whyswel l’
st t
hou  then”and/ m/
soundi n“ Muchpl easur e; thenf rom t heemuchmor emustf low.”
 Met ony my : Met ony my  
isat y peofmet aphori nwhi chanobj ect
i
susedt odescr ibesomet hingcl osel yrelatedt oi t.Inthispoem,
“poppy ”and“ char m”ar eusedt opr oducegent lesl eepordeat h.
 Assonance:  
Assonance  ist her epet i
ti
onoft hev owel soundsi n
thesamel ineofpoet rysuchast hesoundof/ a/i n“ Thouar t
slav etof ate,chance, kings, anddesper atemen, ”andt hesound
of/ e/i n“ Andsoonestourbestmenwi t
ht heedogo. ”
 Irony :
 Irony  meansast at ementt hatmaymeansomet hi
ng
differentf r
om, ort heopposi teof ,whati swr it
ten.  
Irony  
often
expr essessomet hingot hert hant heirl
iteralintent ion,oftenina
humor ous.Forexampl e: “Deat h, thoushal tdie.”

The 
li
ter
aryanal
ysis showst hatDonnehasmadehi
spoem appeal
i
ng
usi
ngdiver
selit
erarydevices.

Anal
ysi
soft
hePoet
icDev
icesi
n“Deat
h,benotPr
oud”
Poet
icandli
ter
arydevi
cesar
ethesame,butaf
ewareusedonlyi
n
poet
ry.Her
eistheanal
ysi
sofsomeofthepoet
icdev
icesusedi
nthi
s
poem.

 Sonnet :
 Asonneti saf our t
een-li
nepoem i nwhi cht hesameidea
runst hroughoutt hepoem.I nt hi
ssonnet ,JohnDonnehas
combi nedt heShakespear i
anandPet rarchan style.Thedivi
sion
oft hesonnetr eflectstheShakespear ianst ructure,whereas
the rhyme  schemeshowst hest ructureofPet r
archansonnet.
 Rhy me  Scheme: Infir
st,secondandt hirdquat rainsthepoem
foll
owst heABBA  rhymescheme, andin coupl et 
therhyme
schemei sAA.
 Met er: Mostoft hev ersesoft hispoem ar ewr i
ttenin
i
ambi c pentamet er i
nwhi chunst ressedsy ll
ablei sfol
lowedbya
stressedsy ll
able, asitisstated,“from rest,”“and ” 
Howev er
,
the met er 
fluctuat es,ast hepoem pr ogresses.

Theanalysi
softhesepoeti
cdevicesshowsthi
ssonnetasaunique
repr
esentat
ivepoem f
ormixingShakespear
eanandPetrar
chansty
le
i
ni t
sstr
uctureandmeter.

Quot
esf
orUsagef
rom “
Deat
h,benotPr
oud”
Theselinescanbeusedwhent eachi
ngt herel
igiousbeli
efthathas
fai
thinlif
eafterdeath.I
tcanal
sobequot edtoridthefearofdeath.
Addit
ionall
y,t
hepoem andt hebel
owlinescant eachtheimportance
ofli
vi
ngi nthewor l
dandhereaf
ter
.

“Oneshor
tsleeppast
,wewakeeter
nall
y
Anddeathshall
benomore;Deat
h,thoushal
tdi
e.”