The critic Later on Nutt publishes articles that ‘it takes a bold man to taunt death'[1]. This kind of observation was made in reference to Ruben Donne’s O Sonnet Back button, ‘Death be not proud’, and effectively portrays both tone and subject with the poem. Through the entire sonnet, Donne consistently mocks, debilitates and deconstructs a personified Fatality, littering the poem with Christian theology and overtly combative rhetoric. Through the sonnet Donne leaves the reader with two decisive ideas: firstly, that the specific can, and most likely ought to, face Fatality with a composed and confident personality, and second, that this may be achieved by changing our conclusive perception of death.
The character that Apporte adopts for the composition is one which clearly retains bold, confident and amusing characteristics, maintaining both showmanship and stoicism to dissect the idea of loss of life. Through ridiculing the apostrophized Death, Donne presents a situation of mentality that can be admired due to its bravado and assertiveness. The first two lines in the poem, ‘Death be not proud, nevertheless some have got called the / Enormous and cheap and nasty, for, thou are not so’,[2] provides the obvious delivery of the taunting tone. The presenter challenges Death’s own notion of on its own, connecting that to fake pride and the misconceived concept that it is ‘Mighty and dreadful’. Donne hence shows a great instinctive competitors to the concept that death is definitely something to fear, presenting the fundamentals of the discussion that he may carry over the rest of the composition. Donne immediately makes a joke out of the number of Death and thus is able to lay the foundations to get his understanding of this pressure.
Lines three and four continue this taunting of Death, ‘For, individuals, whom thou think’st, thou dost undoing, / Expire not, poor death’. (Lines 3-4) The word ‘think’st’ throws hesitation on the brains of Loss of life and discards the idea that Death could be an omniscient power a lot like God, when ‘overthrow’ is employed instead of the even more obvious kill. While kill suggests closure and the total ending of any life, ‘overthrow’ suggests anything more non permanent or reversible. The temporary insinuation of ‘overthrow’ is emphasized simply by ‘Die not’ in the following line, Apporte thus shows an inability on Death’s part to adequately conduct its role. This part is further mocked in lines five and six, ‘From rest and sleep, which will but thy pictures be, / Very much pleasure, in that case from thee, much more need to flow’. (Lines 5-6) Apporte suggests that the states of ‘rest and sleep’ from where pleasure runs are ‘pictures’, or replicas, of fatality. This suggests that if the counterfeit of loss of life is enjoyable then the real full experience of death has to be even more satisfying, thus further more proving that death is usually nothing to always be feared but rather something to be enjoyed. This satisfaction found in death, however , can be elsewhere obtained as ‘poppy, or charms can make all of us sleep as well’, (Line 11) referencing to opiate drugs that may create a condition equal to death. Death therefore becomes outdated and pointless, Donne having stripped this of their purpose, the persona that he embodies championing what most men fear and demonstrating a braveness and strength that the reader should make an attempt to uphold.
The composition of the poem continues the taunting of Death, the use of iambic pentameter placing emphasis on certain words that mock it as well as its position in the universe. Line nine, the first line of the sonnets sestet, ‘Thou art slave to Destiny, chance, kings, and anxious men’ (Line 9) generally seems to hold twelve syllables, placing emphasis on ‘men’ with a burdened syllable and thus allows men to assert dominance over Fatality, humiliating him by reversing the power composition between the fatidico and the forces which they follow. However , if we read ‘Thou art’ as a single syllable, emphasis is placed on ‘slave’, ‘Fate’, kings’ and ‘desperate’, putting Loss of life in a position of total control and submission to equally a higher electric power and human men. Range five and six place emphasis on ‘rest’, ‘sleep’, ‘pictures’, ‘pleasure’ and ‘flow’, hence highlighting the elements of fatality that Apporte believes the individual should really focus on. Structure turns into yet another aspect in Donne’s mission to reimagine loss of life.
Donne’s interpretation of death since something that should be mocked but not feared comes from Christian theology concerning perpetuity and the growing old of the heart. Line thirteen, ‘One short sleep past, we wake up eternally’ (Line 13) summarizes the idea that fatality is simply a temporary state. Linking to the notion of ‘rest and sleep’ for being an imitation of death, Donne insinuates on the Christian notion of judgment day, when Christ will come towards the world again, separate the entire body and the spirit of everyone on the planet, living or dead, as well as the soul shall move onto paradise where it is going to exist to get eternity. Death thus should not only be contacted with a impression of fearlessness for its pleasurable qualities yet also since it is merely a transitional period among our persona and everlasting lives. Therefore , it is authentic ‘those, whom [Death] think’st, [it] dost overthrow, as well as Die not’, for in case the soul is usually to later ‘wake eternally’ in that case death is without real electric power or goal beyond behaving as a middleman between each of our physical lives and existence with The almighty. Donne supplies the reader with sound theological reasoning as to why death needs to be mocked and never feared, it keeps no real power over us, fatality has no goal other than to act as an usher in the next level of our living.
Nutt writes that in Ay Sonnet By Donne’s target is to ‘establish an argument ¦ which issues our considering, and then clarify or elucidate it. ‘ [Pg. 161] This thought is illustrated by Apporte presenting facts based on Christin thought and mixing convincing and disparaging language so that they can assure someone that the issue that almost all people dread is simply a joke. Loss of life, for Donne, is incapable, unimportant and nothing more than a misinterpreted idea. This kind of sonnet, condensed with wit and joy, is sarcastic throughout, in particular when it proves that when we all live in perpetuity ‘death will probably be no more, Fatality, thou shalt die. ‘ (Line 14) Death must not be feared, Donne states, since just like ourselves in our physical lives that exists about borrowed period.
Citations
[1] Paul Nutt, Steve Donne: The Poems, (London: Macmillan Press Ltd, 1999), pg. 161
[2] John Donne, ‘Holy Sonnet X’, in The Broadview Anthology of Seventeenth-Century Verse Prose Quantity 1: Sentirse, ed. by simply Alan Rudrum, Joseph Black Holly Beliefs Nelson, (Canada: Broadview Press Ltd, 2001), pg. 58
