Antigone 5

Biography

John Donne was born on Bread street, London in 1572 into a Roman Catholic family. His father, also known as John Donne was a well know ironmonger and citizen of London. Donne's father died suddenly in 1576, and left the three children to be raised by their mother Elizabeth. In 1593, Donne's brother Henry died of a fever in prison. In 1596, Donne joined the naval expedition that of Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, in Spain. When he returned to England in 1598, Donne was appointed private secutary to Sir Thomas Edgerton. John than married a seventeen year old Anne More. At that point at which Johns life seemed to be improving Anne Donne died, on the 15th of August, 1617, at the age of thirty-three. Stuck with this grief, Donne almost would have become a bishop in 1630. Obsessed with the idea of death, Donne posed for a painting and which was completed a few weeks before his death. He also preached that his funeral was called Death's Duel.

Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
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,
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.
Death Be Not Proud
by John Donne

Division of the poem
Lines1-3: The poet speaks of how death is often though of a bad and scary thing but it is truly not.
Lines 4-8: Here the poet is talking about how people will experience death and that their bodys will rest as their souls are waiting to be delivered to heaven....