Poetry Unit 1--John Donne's Death Be Not Proud

I will be diving our poetry unit into three separate posts. After our intro to poetry, we studied Shakespearean Sonnets and other poets with who wrote complicated figurative language. One of those poets was metaphysical poet, John Donne, know for his religious and erotic verse. I think some of his images and words are some of the most beautiful in the English language. It seems that with authors like Shakespeare and Donne, that one doesn't have to do any work at all--it's all in the text. I learned the full power of text over my Spring Break at the workshop I attended. So, in actual fact the phrase "sticks and stones can break my bones but, words can never hurt me" is completely wrong. I think words have power beyond any bomb or physical torture. One of my favorite poems by Donne is perhaps his most famous, Death Be Not Proud. I felt such a keen emotional attachment to it that I decided to paraphrase it for our assignment. I think the poem is universal because we all have to face life and death, it's the struggle or acceptance that separates people. Here are Donne's words in their entirety.


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, 5
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, 10
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.


I think another source of my attachment to his work stems from a film I saw a few years ago called Wit with Emma Thompson. It is a brilliant film by Mike Nichols about an English Professor dying of cancer whose main focus is John Donne. I'm not going to say too much more about the film as I feel everyone should experience it themselves. But, it's a heartbreaking portrait of one woman's search for truth as she is dying, you will cry.

Here is a scene with Emma Thompson and Eileen Atkins from HBO's Wit.