Analysis of "Death, be not Proud" by John Donne

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;

For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow

Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,

Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go,

Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,

And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,

And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well

And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally

And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

            In this poem, the speaker speaks of Death being the poser. Similar to the concept of a school playground bully, who turns out to be not so tough as he projected himself to be. The speaker even brings out the good in Death, as it leads to eternal Christianity. Throughout this poem, the speaker teases Death, as he says "poor death" which is a way to embarrass a so called "tough guy". In line 12, the speaker refers to the pride that people "swell", then asks Death "why swell'st thou then?". The purpose of this is to remind Death that he has no reason to be proud. The last line is what really stands out to me. First, there is death as its physical form (second word of the line), then there is the personified Death which the poems talks about, then "die" which refers to a metaphor for non-existence.

                All my life I've been mystified by the concept of death. What is death? What happens when one dies? As I had a lack of knowledge, I began to fear Death. However, after I have read this poem, my fear is lost and the feeling of freedom was given to me. As I no longer felt like a captive of Death and I was free to live my life to the fullest extent possible. This poem has brought knowledge and understanding to my concept of Death, without this knowledge my future will not be the same. 

               I no longer fear Death, as it is imminent to everyone. The event that happens after Death is still unknown, but as long as I live my life positively, the event shouldn't be negative. Perhaps this refers to the concept of Heaven and Hell, where if one does good deeds then Heaven awaits him but if one commits sins, then the descend to Hell will come. 

                  Death is portrayed many different ways. Although I do not believe in Heaven or Hell, I still think if I live my life positively, I will have a positive life after Death.