Death Be Not Proud Essays

Death Be Not Proud Essays Death Be Not Proud Paper Death Be Not Proud Paper Harridans poem is completely opposite to Donnas as it tells the reader about his personal life ND the unfortunate passing of his Mother. Death be not Proud was written three hundred and fifty years ago and written in sonnet form, a traditional form of writing at that time. In Death be not Proud, Done personifies death, calling death thee and thou, this makes death seem less influential and demonstrates that Done Is not scared of death. Indeed, he challenges and threatens It by saying, In line four, Die not, poor death, nor yet cants thou kill me. Done compares death, a word which normally carries negative connotations, to sleep which Is a pleasant experience. By saying this, Done suggests inconsequently that death is an enjoyable experience. In lines five to six, it states From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow. Here, Done mocks death as even in the title, death be not proud, Done is saying that death should not be so full of itself and calls death a slave who lives with all sorts of atrocious things. He refers to death as poison, war and sickness. Done is not afraid to say the word death or die and this is shown by the fact that he repeats the word death several times to show he is not afraid of it. By contrast, in conversation, people often evade the word death, preferring to use phrases such as passed away because even mentioning the word death may scare them. This also links back to death and how It Is perceived with very negative connotations. Done has no fear of death because he believes In the afterlife (he was a religious man and believed that when people died they went to Heaven). His last line is very powerful, expressing Donnas belief that, through the afterlife, death is redundant (as in Heaven, no one dies). An example of this is in the penultimate and IANAL line where Done says One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And death shall be no more; death, thou shall die. The last line contains 10 monosyllabic words. This emphasis the iambic pentameter of the line and adds force and authority to the words. Iambic pentameter is heard by the reader as almost the repeated drumming of the heartbeat, which in turn symbolizes life, this contrasting image in a poem where death Is so widely used again emphasis Donnas message that death Is not final and that there Is hope against It. Death appears In the last line three times ND this repetition emphasis the message that Done Is conveying, and by stating the word death three times, Done Is using rhetoric In the form of triplet phrasing to further illustrate his message. Monetary to Dean De not Proud, Long Distance II Is a deeply personal poem Ana Tony Harrison uses the personal pronouns my and l to convey the message that he is talking about his life and his fathers personal grief. During the poem the word death is seldom used and it seems that here, the poet is portraying to the reader just how scared the father is to admit what has happened. Harrison tells how his father refused to believe that his mother had died and we are given a series of pitiable, depressing and futile rituals that the father went through. In lines 2-4, Harrison writes, Dad kept her slippers warming by the gas, put hot water bottles her side of the bed and still went to renew her transport pass. This demonstrates to the reader that the father is clearly in denial and he carries on as if his wife were still alive, pretending in his own mind that she has Just popped out to tea. Possibly the saddest feature of the poem is the fact that, although both Harrison and his father myself know that the father isnt coping very well, neither of them can bring themselves to talk about it. This exposes the inability of men (especially old, proud Yorkshire men like Harridans father) to speak openly about their feelings. Harridans father would see it as a sign of weakness to openly show his great sorrow and his still raw love to his son. The word raw is used to describe his love as an undressed wound and the pain is still constant. The poem is therefore painfully well observed and frustratingly honest. We feel very sorry for Harridans father and indeed for Harrison himself, who allowed his father to carry on the pretence without ever feeling able to help. His father is now dead, his phone number is disconnected and it is too late for Harrison to call. The final verse presents the reader with an antithetic juxtaposition. Harrison begins with stating that, l believe life ends with death, and that is all, (this contrasts to Done, as he doesnt believe in the afterlife). However, his actions do not support his statement, as although his parents are both dead, he still keeps their memory alive in his new black leather phone book, still calling heir disconnected number. Harridans behavior is hugely ironic, given the almost critical way in which he exposed his fathers frailties in the opening three verses, now, Just like his father; he is forced to mourn in secret, performing similarly pointless rituals as a mark of both his love and his private suffering. An example of this is found in lines 14-16; Mimi havent both gone shopping; Just the same, in my new black leather phone book theres your name and the disconnected number I still call. Although this is a far more modern poem than Donnas, it is still written in a airily traditional form. Like Donnas poem, the rhythm is iambic pentameter and forms of rhetoric such as rhyming couplets are used to emphasis the meaning of the words. Both poets talk about death and the effect that death has on individuals. In my view, John Donnas Death be not Proud is the better poem. In Death be not Proud, Done attacks death in a very hostile way, saying Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings and desperate men. Done expresses his anger at death, saying that it is nothing and can be left down to chance. Donnas victory over death is concluded in the last nine of the poem where he says Death shall be no more; death, thou shall die.