Death be not proud

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.

This sonnet by John Donne questions the strength and the power of Death itself. Death, being a powerful part of life, ruled by fate and feared by many, is characterised merely as a slave as stated: "Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;".  Death does not rule by itself, in fact, Death is called upon by kings who imprison men for their "sins".  It is also called upon by desperate men such as people who want to commit suicide to end their lives and be at peace. Death is also characterised to be sick as it dwells with war, sickness and poison. The speaker of the sonnet boldly challenges Death and states that it itself shall die. If kings and desperate people do not summon death, death itself shall be no more.

Usually, when reading a poem about death, it is quite depressing, however, the sonnet is quite strong in the sense that it shows us that Death is not something to be afraid of. It is as though John Donne has written this sonnet to convince people that Death is not as powerful as we think it is. If sickness does not reach us, or if we don't come across war and poison, we will not die. Of course, we know very well that death does no always come by due to these circumstances and can easily take away a life due to natural causes. Seeing this, the meaning of Death put forward by this poem is meaningless.