Q - Detailed Critical Analysis of

“Death, Be Not Proud”

Title

The poem first appeared as “Holy Sonet X” in a collection of nineteen sonnets by John Donne. However, its title came to be known as “Death, Be Not Proud” ,after the first four words of the poem. It was written between 1601 and 10.

Type of Work

"Death, Be Not Proud" is a sonnet (fourteen-line poem) similar in format to that established in Italy byPetrarch (1304-74), a Roman Catholic priest who popularized the sonnet form before it was adopted and modified in England. Petrarch's sonnets each consist of an eight-line stanza (octave) and a six-line stanza (sestet). The first stanza presents a theme, and the second stanza develops it. 

Theme

“Death Be Not Proud” is among the most famous and most beloved poems in English literature. Its popularity lies in its message of hope couched in eloquent, quotable language. Donne’s theme tells the reader that death has no right to be proud, since human beings do not die but live eternally after “one short sleep.” Although some people depict death as mighty and powerful, it is really a lowly slave that depends on luck, accidents, decrees, murder, disease, and war to put men to sleep. But a simple poppy (whose seeds provide a juice to make a narcotic) and various charms (incantations, amulets, spells, etc.) can also induce sleep—and do it better than death can. After a human being’s soul leaves the body and enters eternity, it lives on; only death dies.

Figures of Speech

To convey his message, Donne relies primarily on personification, a type of metaphor, that extends through the entire poem. (Such an extended metaphor is often called a conceit.) Thus, death becomes a person whom Donne addresses, using the second-person singular (implied or stated as thou, thee, and thy). Donne also uses alliteration, as the following lines illustrate:

Alliteration

For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then
One short sleep past, we wake eternally (Note: One begins with a w sound; thus, it alliterates with weand wake.)
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die

Metaphor

Thou [Death] art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men
Comparison of death to a slave

Metaphor With Personification

Death, be not proud
Comparison of death to a person

Paradox and Irony

Donne ends the poem with paradox and irony: Death, thou shalt die.

Meter

The meter varies, although most of the poem is in iambic pentameter, as in lines 5-7:

.......1....................2....................3................4...............5
From REST..|..and SLEEP,..|..which BUT..|..thy PIC..|..tures BE

.......1....................2....................3..................4......................5
Much PLEA..|..sure; THEN..|..from THEE..|..much MORE..|..must FLOW,

........1.................2...............3..................4...............5
And SOON..|..est OUR..|..best MEN..|..with THEE..|..do GO

Rhyme Scheme

The rhyme scheme of "Death, Be Not Proud" is as follows: ABBA, ABBA, CDDC, EE. 

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"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"

Type of Work

"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" is a lyric poem. Some scholars further classify it as a metaphysical poem; Donne himself did not use that term. Among the characteristics of a metaphysicalpoem are the following:

• Startling comparisons or contrasts of a metaphysical (spiritual, transcendant, abstract) quality to a concrete (physical, tangible, sensible) object. In "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," Donne compares the love he shares with his wife to a compass. (See Stanza 7 of the poem).  
• Mockery of idealized, sentimental romantic poetry, as in Stanza 2 of the poem.
• Gross exaggeration (hyperbole). 
• Presentation of a logical argument. Donne argues that he and his wife will remain together spiritually even though they are apart physically. 
• Expression of personal, private feelings, such as those Donne expresses in "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning." 

"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" was first published in 1633, two years after Donne died, in a poetry collection entitled Songs and Sonnets.

Summary  and Title

.......In 1611, John Donne wrote "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" to his wife, Anne More Donne, to comfort her while he sojourned in France on government business and she remained home in Mitcham, England, about seven miles from London. The title says, in essence, "When we part, we must not mourn."Valediction comes from the Latin verb valedicere, meaning to bid farewell. Their love, after all, is transcendant, heavenly. Other husbands and wives who know only physical, earthly love, weep and sob when they separate for a time, for they dread the loss of physical closeness. But because Donne and his wife have a spiritual as well as physical dimension to their love, they will never really be apart, he says. Their souls will remain united–even though their bodies are separated–until he returns to England. 

Theme

 Real, complete love unites not only the bodies of a husband and wife but also their souls. Such spiritual love is transcendent, metaphysical, keeping the lovers together intellectually and spiritually even though the circumstances of everyday life may separate their bodies. 

Figures of Speech

Metaphor

Donne relies primarily on extended metaphors to convey his message. First, he compares his separation from his wife to the separation of a man's soul from his body when he dies (first stanza). The body represents physical love; the soul represents spiritual or intellectual love. While Donne and his wife are apart, they cannot express physical love; thus, they are like the body of the dead man. However, Donne says, they remain united spiritually and intellectually because their souls are one. So, Donne continues, he and his wife should let their physical bond "melt" when they part (line 5). 
He follows that metaphor with others, saying they should not cry sentimental "tear-floods" or indulge in "sigh-tempests" (line 6) when they say farewell. Such base sentimentality would cheapen their relationship. He also compares himself and his wife to celestial spheres, such as the sun and others stars, for their love is so profound that it exists in a higher plane than the love of  husbands and wives whose relationship centers solely on physical pleasures which, to be enjoyed, require that the man and woman always remain together, physically. 
Finally, Donne compares his relationship with his wife to that of the two legs of a drawing compass. Although the legs are separate components of the compass, they are both part of the same object. The legs operate in unison. If the outer leg traces a circle, the inner leg–though its point is fixed at the center–must pivot in the direction of the outer leg. Thus, Donne says, though he and his wife are separated, like the legs of the compass, they remain united because they are part of the same soul.

Paradox

In the sixth stanza, Donne begins a paradox, noting that his and his wife's souls are one though they be two; therefore, their souls will always be together even though they are apart. 

Simile

Stanza 6 also presents a simile, comparing the expansion of their souls to the expansion of beaten gold. 

Alliteration

Donne also uses alliteration extensively. Following are examples:

Whilst some of their sad friends do say (line 3)
Dull sublunary lovers' love (line 13)
(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit (line 14)
That our selves know not what it is, (line 18)
Our two souls therefore, which are one (line 21)
Thy soul, the fixed foot, makes no show
Thy firmness makes my circle just, / And makes me end where I begun (lines 35-36)

.Rhyme Scheme and Meter

End rhyme occurs in the first and third lines of each stanza and in the second and fourth lines. The meter is iambic tetrameter, with eight syllables (four feet) per line. Each foot, or pair of syllables, consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The first two lines of the second stanza demonstrate this metric pattern:

....1......  .      ..2...........  ....3.................4
So LET..|..us MELT..|..and MAKE..|..no NOISE
  ....1............     ..2...........    ....3........  .........4
No TEAR-..|..floods NOR..|..sigh-TEMP..|..ests MOVE

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Pronunciation

Word Stress

Native speakers of English use word stress naturally

Understanding Syllables

Every word is made of syllables.
Each word has 1,2, 3 or more syllables.

word		No.of syllables
cat	cat	1
red	red	1
quite	quite	1
quiet	qui-et	2
orange	or-ange	2
table	ta-ble	2
expensive	ex-pen-sive	3
interesting	in-ter-est-ing	4
realistic	re-al-is-tic	4
unexceptional	un-ex-cep-tion-al	5

Notice that (with a few rare exceptions) every syllable contains at least one vowel (a, e, i, o or u) or vowel sound.

What is Word Stress?

English speakers do not say each syllable with the same force or strength. In one word, a speaker accentuates ONE syllable. He says one syllable very loud (big, strong, important) and all the other syllables quietly.

click word to hear	shape	total syllables	stressed syllable
PHO TO GRAPH		3	#1
PHO TO GRAPH ER		4	#2
PHO TO GRAPH IC		4	#3

TEACH er,

 Ja PAN,

 CHI na,

 a BOVE,

 conver SA tion,

 IN teresting,

im POR tant,

 de MAND,

 et CET era,

The syllables that are not stressed are weak or small or quiet.

Rules of Word Stress in English

1. One word, one stress. (One word cannot have two stresses. So if you hear two stresses, you have heard two words, not one word.)
2. The stress is always on a vowel.

1 Stress on first syllable

rule	example
Most 2-syllable nouns	1.      PRES ent, 2.      EX port, 3.      CHI na, 4.      TA ble
Most 2-syllable adjectives	1.      PRES ent, 2.      SLEN der, 3.      CLEV er, 4.      HAP py

2 Stress on last syllable

rule	example
Most 2-syllable verbs	to pre SENT, to ex PORT, to de CIDE, to be GIN

In English, there are many two-syllable words, their meaning and class change with a change in stress. The word present, for example

3 Stress on penultimate syllable (penultimate = second from end)

rule	example
Words ending in -ic	GRAPH ic, geo GRAPH ic, geo LOG ic
Words ending in -sion and -tion	tele VI sion, reve LA tion

For a few words, native English speakers don't always "agree" on where to put the stress. For example, some people say teleVIsion and others say TELevision. Another example is: CONtroversy and conTROversy.

4 Stress on ante-penultimate syllable (ante-penultimate = third from end)

rule	example
Words ending in -cy, -ty, -phy and -gy	de MO cra cy, de pen da BI li ty, pho TO gra phy, geO Lo gy
Words ending in -al	CRI ti cal, Geo LO Gi cal

5 Compound words (words with two parts)

rule	example
For compound nouns, the stress is on the first part	BLACKbird, GREENhouse
For compound adjectives, the stress is on the second part	bad-TEMpered, old-FASHioned
For compound verbs, the stress is on the second part	to underSTAND,  to overFLOW

Sentence Stress

Like word stress,Sentence stress is the music of spoken English.

Sentence stress is what gives English its rhythm or "beat".

Most sentences have two types of word:

• content words
• structure words

Content words are the key words of a sentence. They are the important words that carry the meaning or sense. If you remove the content words from a sentence, you will not understand the sentence.

Structure words are not very important words. They are small, simple words that make the sentence correct grammatically or "structurally" If you remove the structure words from a sentence, you will probably still understand the sentence.

Imagine that you receive this telegram message:

Will

you

SELL

my

CAR

because

I've

GONE

to

FRANCE

You probably understand it. These 4 words communicate very well. Somebody wants you to sell their car for them because they have gone to France. We can add a few words:

Will

you

SELL

my

CAR

because

I've

GONE

to

FRANCE

The new words do not really add any more information. But they make the message more correct grammatically. We can add even more words to make one complete, grammatically correct sentence. But the information is basically the same:

Content Words
Will	you	SELL	my	CAR	because	I've	GONE	to	FRANCE.
Structure Words

The 4 key words (sell, car, gone, France) are accentuated or stressed.It is important because it adds "music" to the language. It is the rhythm of the English language.

I am a proFESsional phoTOgrapher whose MAIN INterest is to TAKE SPEcial, BLACK and WHITE PHOtographs that exHIBit ABstract MEANings in their photoGRAPHic STRUCture.

Linking in English

There are basically two types of linking:

• consonant > vowel
  We link words ending with a consonant sound to words beginning with a vowel sound

• vowel > vowel
  We link words ending with a vowel sound to words beginning with a vowel sound

In this lesson we look at:

vowels

a

e

i

o

u

consonants

b

c

d

f

g

h

j

k

l

m

n

p

q

r

s

t

v

w

x

y

z

The important thing in linking is the sound, not the letter. Often the letter and the sound are the same, but not always.

For example, the word "pay" ends with:

• the consonant letter "y" yet it gives the vowel sound "a"

Here are some more examples:

For example	though	know
ends with the letter	h	w
Yet it ends with the sound	o	o

 

For example	uniform	honest
begins with the letter	u	h
Yet it begins with the sound	y	o

 

Linking Consonant to Vowel

When a word ends in a consonant sound, we often move the consonant sound to the beginning of the next word if it starts with a vowel sound.

For example, in the phrase "turn off":

We write it like this:	turn	off
We say it like this:	tur	noff

Remember that it's the sound that matters. In the next example, "have" ends with:

• the letter "e" (vowel)
• the sound "v" (consonant)

So we link "have" to the next word "a" which begins with a vowel sound:

We write it like this:	Can I have a bit of egg?
We say it like this:	Ca-nI-ha-va-bi-to-fegg?

 

Linking Vowel to Vowel

When one word ends with a vowel sound and the next word begins with a vowel sound, we link the words with a sort of W or Y sound.

If our lips are round at the end of the first word, we insert a “W” sound:

oo | o

We write it like this: too often who is so I do all We say it like this: tooWoften whoWis soWI doWall

If our lips are wide at the end of the first word, we insert a Y sound:

oo | --

We write it like this: Kay is I am the end she asked We say it like this: KayYis IYam theYend sheYasked

 

 

Contractions

How to Pronounce "the" in English

When "the" comes before a vowel sound, we pronounce it as a long "thee".

vowel sound	we write	we say
A	the apple	thee apple
E	the egg	thee egg
I	the ice-cream	thee ice-cream
O	the orange	thee orange
U	the ugli fruit	thee ugli fruit

It is important to understand that it is what we say that matters, not what we write. It is the sound that matters, not the letter used in writing a word. So we use a long "thee" before a vowel sound, not necessarily before a vowel. Look at these cases:

we write	with	we say	with
the house	consonant (h)	thuh house	consonant sound
the hour	consonant (h)	thee our	vowel sound
the university	vowel (u)	thuh youniversity	consonant sound
the umbrella	vowel (u)	thee umbrella	vowel sound

When to Say "a" or "an"

The indefinite article is a or an. But how do we know when to say a and when to say an?

The rule is really very simple. It depends on the sound at the start of the following word. (It does not depend on the way we write the following word, it depends on the way we say it.)

A + consonant sound

If the following word starts with a consonant sound, then we say a.

a cat

a game of golf

a human emotion

a Peruvian

a very fat woman

 

An + vowel sound

If the following word starts with a vowel sound, then we say an.

an apple

an extremely easy job

an interesting film

an old man

an umbrella

 

The importance of sound

Normally, we pronounce consonant letters with a consonant sound, and vowel letters with a vowel sound. But there are some exceptions. The rule about a or an is still the same. You just need to think about the sound, not the writing. Look at these examples:

consonant letter with vowel sound
an honest man	on-est
an hour	our
an FBI agent	eff-bee-eye

 

 

Tongue-Twisters