“Holy Sonnet 10: Death, be not proud” Introduction

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“Holy Sonnet 10: Death, be not proud” Summary

“Holy Sonnet 10: Death, be not proud” Themes

• 

  The Powerlessness of Death

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Holy Sonnet 10: Death, be not proud”

• Lines 1-4

  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. 

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  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. 

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-10

  Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, 
  And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, 

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-12

  And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well 
  And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then? 

  

  

  

  

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“Holy Sonnet 10: Death, be not proud” Symbols

• 

  Sleep

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“Holy Sonnet 10: Death, be not proud” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

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• Enjambment

  

  

  

  

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• Paradox

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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“Holy Sonnet 10: Death, be not proud” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Thee
• Thou
• Art
• Think'st
• Dost
• Canst
• Thy
• Pictures
• Bones
• Poppy
• Charms
• Stroke
• Swell'st

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Holy Sonnet 10: Death, be not proud”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Holy Sonnet 10: Death, be not proud” Speaker

“Holy Sonnet 10: Death, be not proud” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Holy Sonnet 10: Death, be not proud”

More “Holy Sonnet 10: Death, be not proud” Resources

• External Resources

  • A Clip from Wit — A clip from the film version of Wit, a play by Margaret Edson. The two lead characters discuss the punctuation of Donne's sonnet.

  • A Reading by John Gielgud — A reading by the influential actor and theater director, John Gielgud.

  • Britten's "Death, be not proud" — English composer Benjamin Britten set a number of Donne's "Holy Sonnets" to music. Here is a performance of "Death, be not proud." 

  • The Holy Sonnets — A link to the entire "Holy Sonnets" series (based on the Westmoreland manuscript). 

• LitCharts on Other Poems by John Donne

  • A Hymn to God the Father

  • Air and Angels

  • A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

  • A Valediction: Of Weeping

  • Elegy V: His Picture

  • Holy Sonnet 14: Batter my heart, three-person'd God

  • Holy Sonnet 1: Thou hast made me, and shall thy work decay?

  • Holy Sonnet 6: This is my play's last scene

  • Holy Sonnet 7: At the round earth's imagined corners

  • Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness

  • No Man Is an Island

  • Song: Go and catch a falling star

  • The Apparition

  • The Canonization

  • The Dream

  • The Ecstasy

  • The Flea

  • The Good-Morrow

  • The Relic

  • The Sun Rising

  • The Triple Fool

  • To His Mistress Going to Bed