"Do I get the gold chariot? Do I float through the ceiling?"

In “Death be not proud”, John Donne discusses the solemn topic of certain death. However, in personifying death as the desired recipient, Donne belittles it through several clever logical and spiritual arguments and ends with the seemingly paradoxical statement that death “shalt die.” It is the speaker’s certainty in the power of religion that makes death an insignificant foe and one even deserving of pity.

Donne begins his argument with an apostrophe chastising death for its “pride” and informs death that it is not nearly as “[m]ighty and dreadful” (line 2) as it is believed to be. According to Donne, this is because that those that die in the mortal world “[d]ie not” and that he himself cannot be defeated by death. Although this statement is seemingly a paradox, it is explained near the end of the poem when Donne states, “One short sleep past, we wake eternally” (line 13), of course referring to the Christian belief in heaven or an afterlife. John Donne himself was a very religious man, being raised a Roman Catholic and ordained as an Anglican priest in 1615 due to the king’s wishes, and “Death be not proud” was originally entitled “Holy Sonnet X.” In affirming the power that religion holds over the state of death, Donne begins to chip away at the established power that death holds over man.

Once the seed of doubt of death’s unlimited power is planted in the reader’s mind, Donne expands on it by removing death’s greatest weapon: fear. In the second quatrain, Donne reasons that death itself is a pleasurable experience since its only relatable synonyms in the human condition are rest and sleep, which are far from terrifying. If death itself is only an amplified version of these experiences, then it too must be pleasurable and therefore not worthy of being feared. This statement is only strengthened by the common belief that the good die young, which Donne alludes to, and he argues that death should not cause the innocent to suffer and therefore must be desirable. Donne completes the sentence by once again reminding the reader of faith’s power over mortality, since the virtuous must simply wait for “soul’s delivery” upon judgment (line 8).

Donne builds on his argument and continues to belittle death by revealing it as inferior and subordinate to other powers. Death, instead of being an autonomous entity, is a “slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men” (line 9). He goes further by associating death with undesirable company such as “poison, war, and sickness” (line 10) and stating that death’s powers are inferior to those of charms or poppy (opium) since death itself is just another form of sleep due to the Christian belief of resurrection. These statements serve to empower the reader into thinking that he is greater than death itself, which is reflected in both Donne’s pity for death, “poor death” (line 4), and his scolding of death, “why swellest then?” (line 12). In conclusion, Donne decided that the power of religion is enough to make death obsolete as a menacing force, therefore saying, “death, thou shalt die” (line 14).

The arguments of this Elizabethan sonnet fit perfectly into four sentences which in turn make the sonnet’s three quatrains and single couplet. What is unusual about the sonnet, however, is that the rhyme scheme in the quatrains is that of a Petrarchan sonnet (abba) and the poem’s rhythm deviates from the standard iambic pentameter in order to stress certain points, for example “Death be not proud” (line 1). Yet, in this simple poetic form, Donne is able to preach a sermon and look past even death to comment on the continuity of life.

Tender is the Night

For my final paper I have begun reading F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night and am exactly one-third of the way through the book at the moment (page 105 out of 315). This being said, I feel that I am at the perfect point to be sharing some opening impressions. I originally chose this story because I loved The Great Gatsby and have honestly enjoyed this story so far primarily because it is character-driven rather than plot-driven. This approach fits in well with Fitzgerald’s writing style and tendency to interject generalizations about situations and the human condition inside of the story’s narration.

The story (at least on the back cover) claims to be the tragedy of Dick Diver, but the narration centers around a young actress named Rosemary, who falls in love with Dick upon meeting him in France. The drama of the story comes from the fact that Rosemary goes about attempting to have an affair with Dick, who happens to be married. Overall, both seem to be sympathetic characters even though the plot of the novel so far has been predictable, the ending could be a surprise (though I’m guessing that it will end melancholic atmosphere and some large statement applicable to life as a whole –let’s face it, it is Fitzgerald- but that does happen to be my favorite type of ending). In fact, the plot itself at times does not even matter since the most interesting parts of the story seem to revolve around the personalities of Dick’s group of friends and the interactions between them – this story had a duel in the first fifty pages, what more could a reader want?