"Death, be not proud"
John Donne
In this poem, Donne seems to lash out against death who had previously enjoyed supremacy from its reputation. Although he provides arguments for accepting death without fights, the hasty tone suggests an inevitable fear of death.
"Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;" (Donne, 971). The reputation of death as an omnipotent overlord is called into question. Typically, since literally no one can escape it, people envision death as a sort of murderous warlord. However, when one examines death, one finds that it often strikes from the shadows. Death claims the elderly, sickly, and injured rather than the potent. The reader (and poet) can find comfort in this observation. Perhaps death is not so fearsome after all.
However, in the end, death is just as powerful as before the attack. The manner of death matters little when there is no escape in the end. Donne seems to be grasping at a nonexistent convenient truth. Even his last sentence confirms that death is so powerful death itself cannot escape.
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