Introduction
THESIS: Donne’s poem “Death be not Proud” uses theme, symbolism and mood to provide comfort for those who fear death or grieve for the dead.
Introduction to Donne’s poem “Death be not Proud”
Themes in “Death be not Proud” by Donne
Death is nothing to fear because the power of God and the promised afterlife.
God’s promise of everlasting life will undo all that Death has done.
Symbolism in “Death be not Proud” by Donne
Death is treated symbolically as a human being, which allows Donne to make Death less fearsome.
When Donne gives death a human form he can give it a proper name, Death, and he can speak to Death as though it were a person in the poem.
Death has human attributes such as pride, but Donne tells Death “be not proud”.
Donne then makes the shocking statement that it has the fragility of life and will also die: “And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die” (Donne, 978).
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Mood in “Death be not Proud” by Donne is one of comfort:
such as when Donne uses the phrase “soul’s delivery” (Donne, 978), creating the powerful image God receiving the souls of the dead.
Donne speaks to Death with a mocking tone, because it is not to be feared.
God is more powerful: “though some have called thee/Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so“ (Donne, 978).
Conclusion
Donne’s poem “Death be not Proud” uses theme, symbolism and mood to provide comfort for those who fear death or grieve for the dead. This poem is a reflection of the times when Donne lived, which included a high death toll from disease and difficult lives as well as a very religious population (Bloom, 10). For Donne some of that difficulty was tied to his Catholic faith, as at the time Catholics lived in fear of persecution and discrimination (Bloom, 10). This provides some insight with regard to why this was an important subject which Donne felt deeply passionate about- his religion. Many of Donne’s poems were about death, and through these poems he is able to provide some comfort through highlighting his religious ideas of death and afterlife, which are a running theme in his works (Carey, Chapter 7). From Donne’s point of view death is weak, and the faithful can take strength in that.
Themes in “Death be not Proud” by Donne include that death is nothing to fear and that God’s power will overcome that which death has caused. Donne remakes death, which otherwise seems overwhelming and all-powerful, into another image which does not have the same negative impact. Supporting these themes is the idea that Death’s work will be undone by the God, and that is due to the concept of the afterlife. When the right time has come, Donne believes that God will provide for the undoing of Death and all of Death’s work. The Christian idea of the afterlife is provided to all of those souls who are delivered to God. This is Donne’s way of presenting God’s promise of everlasting life, and through it there is the comfort and knowledge that death is a temporary situation. One’s own death does not need to be feared, and the dead that are missed will be reunited with their loved ones. Despite Death’s attempt to do this terrible thing, God will undo all that Death has done.
Symbolism is used in a manner that provides comfort to the reader who is pained by a death. In the poem, Donne treats death symbolically as a human being, and this allows Donne to make Death less fearsome and less powerful. Donne gives death a human form, and in doing that he is able to give it a proper name. This is shown by the capitalization of Death, and this allows Donne to be able to speak to Death in the poem as though death were a person. The title of the poem itself makes clear that the poem is an irritated speech directed at Death himself. The anthropomorphized Death also has human characteristics such as pride, but Donne tells Death “be not proud”, and then gives the shocking reason why. Death, now nothing more than human being, suffers from the fragility of life and Death too will also die: “And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die” (Donne, 978).
The mood in “Death be not Proud” by Donne is a comforting one, as Donne is reassuring about the power of his religion and God, and the fallibility of Death. Donne uses the phrase “soul’s delivery” (Donne, 978), and this has the ability to create comfort through the powerful image God receiving the souls of the dead. While the mood towards the dead and their place with God is reverent, Donne speaks to Death in a mocking tone. This provides some comfort as not only does death not to be feared, its power can be mocked in light of the more powerful capacity of Donne’s religious convictions. The mood can be summarized as optimism given that God is more powerful than death, and this is captured in the lines “though some have called thee/Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so“ (Donne, 978). Death can be dismissed, according to Donne, given the power and glory of his Christian beliefs.
Donne aims to provide comfort to the reader through his poem by diminishing the meaning of death. This is reflected in the themes of the promise of the afterlife and the undoing of all death by the Christian God, as well as the symbolic transformation of death into a human who can himself die. The theme is further supported by the mood, which is optimistic about the power of God to overcome death as well as dismissive of Death as a proud being who will get his due when he himself dies and has no place in the afterlife.
- Bloom, Harold, ed. John Donne. Infobase Publishing, 2009.
- Carey, John. John Donne: Life, mind and art. Faber & Faber, 2011.
- Donne, John. “Death Be Not Proud.” Literature Voice and Craft. Ed. Nicholas and Alan Cheuse Delbanco. Second Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2012: 978.
