John Donne, in his Holy Sonnet #10 “Death, be not proud”, explores the power and limits of a conscious, devious character called Death, as if it were an entirely separate entity than the mere experience of death. Using apostrophe as his primary figurative language device., Donne argues that both the faith and willpower of humanity and the inevitability of death are stronger than personified Death. Since this poem originates from the set of sonnets that Donne uses to establish and question his relationship with God and Christianity, it is highly likely that this poem addresses the paradoxical relationship between Christ and Death. Specifically, it addresses the moral idea that Christ’s ultimate sacrifice implies the impotence of Death himself. Donne writes, “Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men” (Line 9). The examples of various beings that could overpower Death shows Donne’s point that Death is weaker than it seems. In addition, in lines 10-11, Donne justifies the statement from the line before by exemplifying the ways in which death is stronger than Death: “And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell / And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well”. At this point in the poem, Donne sums up his general accusation in line 9 with examples of all the ways that each of those beings is more powerful than Death. He associates “poison, war, and sickness” (10) with the idea of humanity’s own fate and destiny destroying itself rather than being actively manipulated or controlled by Death. Likewise, his conceits to Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection imply the indubitable power of kings, and the idea of “poppy and charms can make us sleep as well” is a suggestion that desperate men committing suicide is a defeat of Death, as well. 

I thoroughly enjoy this poem because I generally love apostrophes and pieces of work that address things that cannot actually understand and probably don’t exist. For example, immediately upon finishing this poem I thought of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. In his novel, ‘Death’ narrates a solemn and fascinating story of different people throughout World War II. Compared to the poem, however, Death is portrayed as an omniscient, unwavering, and unstoppable force of fate that is God, death, and life all in one; he is the reason for everything.

Given these two extremely different ideas of the power and control that Death has over humanity, it brings up a relatively interesting discussion question: 

If Death were a conscious entity, would it be “a slave” to humanity? Or would it be entirely omniscient and formidable? Are the forces that humanity plays in its own downfall a sign of Death’s impotence or his power?