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A Favorite Poem
- 11/26/06
- 9
I wrote a couple of days ago about poetry and its power in communicating. I do love poetry in general, but certain poems stand out. And there is one that I love more than all others. I thought I’d share it with you today, though I suspect most are already familiar with it. It is John Donne’s “Death Be Not Proud.” Donne lived from 1572 to 1631 and was a prolific poet. He also coined a couple of immortal phrases that are in use today (“No man is an island” and “never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.”) While his Holy Sonnets remain widely read, certainly none of his works are more popular or more beautiful than this, his masterpiece (as with most poetry, it is best read aloud):
DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think’st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell’st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.
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Comments (9)
I need to hear someone else read this out loud and most probably translate some of the words because they appear to be a foreign language. I’ve not read (or heard read) the KJV bible in years and years. Shakespeare was insurmountable for this poor South Alabama girl in the 1970’s. From what I can gather in this poem, I know I’ve missed beautiful spoken words. Sigh…..
Renee,
There are few words there that are no longer used in today’s English. Generally they are just spelled differently. So if you read it out loud you should get most of it!
although some of donne’s poetry is….. inappropriate, i like the holy sonnets and poems like this a lot. george herbert, too. i wish people still wrote like this, sometimes. :]
For Renee, myself and others…an attempt by me of a modern translation of the poem:
DEATH, do not be arrogant. Though some have called you mighty and dreadful, you are not so tough.Yet, those who are terrified by you are seemingly overcome in the end by your apparent power.I, though, am not dead, pitiful death, nor are you able to put me under just yet.Your images of a dead person resting and sleeping are severely wanting, you will have to do much better than that.Though, I’ll grant you, even the best of men die, giving rest to their bones and releasing their spirit elsewhere.You, death, are still not above Fate, Chance, kings or desperate men, and even though you use things like poison, war, sickness, etc., and you think you have won, we shall be alive eternally at that moment just after we die…you are no more…and then, death, you are the one who dies.
I also came across this explanation that I thought was good:
Death dont’ be proud even though you pride in it.you are not mighty or scary as some people may say.for all those people you took away, you are still unable to take me. So don’t die, poor death, before you take me away. the first 4 lines he’s mocking death.
Death, you’re just a picture of peace (rest and sleep).Dying is a pleasurable state and death is full of pleasure. You eventually take away our love ones away(best men), but you’re just giving their body rest and freeing their soul.the second 4 lines he’s teasing death.
Death, you’re a slave to fate and to man’s action.Poison , war, sickness, and sleeping pills will kill us but then so what?One quick moment pass and comes eternal life.Death will be no more, in turn it’s really Death’s funeral when a man dies. Last 6 lines he’s pitying death.
I have to disagree with Brian (sorry!) about the last six lines—I don’t think he is pitying death; well, I understand that Brian didn’t write this part, but he read it somewhere. I think Donne is kind of triumphing over death.
In this line—“Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,” I think he means that death is used by fate, chance (in accidents), kings (in intrigue and political revenge-type killings), and desperate men (committing murder).
Death shouldn’t be proud of its power, because it is really just the entrance to eternal life.
Ah yes, good ol’ John Donne. This sonnet is among my favorites though I find Holy Sonnet XIV to be the most personally gripping - with its powerful usage of somewhat “erotic” imagery in describing the power of a personal conversion.
I agree completely with Matthew. In fact, I was just going to say that Holy Sonnet X (“Death, be not proud”) comes in second only to Holy Sonnet XIV.________________
Batter my heart, three-personed God; for youAs yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;That I may rise, and stand, o’erthrow me, and bendYour force, to break, blow, burn and make me new.I, like an usurped town, to another due,Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end,Reason your viceroy in me, me should defend,But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,But am betrothed unto your enemy:Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,Take me to you, imprison me, for IExcept you enthrall me, never shall be free,Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.________________
[Insert Puritan “O!”] that’s good!
You will have seen the movie Wit, then?
Yes, aloud is better, but in my deep southern drawl something is lost. Brian, thanks for the translation.
If anyone ever needs Mark Twain read/translated though, I’m your gal.