Divine Meditation 10: Death, be not proud: Meter

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Donne composed “Death, be not proud” in iambic pentameter. Recall that iambic pentameter simply refers to lines of five iambs, where an iamb is a metrical foot consisting of one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable, as in the word “to-day.” This choice of meter is common for sonnets written in English, and particularly for the sonnets of Donne’s own time. Yet Donne’s use of iambic pentameter is often loose and riddled with metrically awkward moments. This fact led a contemporary writer named Ben Jonson to proclaim that “Donne, for not keeping of accent[,] deserved hanging.” For a sample of some of the irregularities in Donne’s meter, consider the poem’s opening four lines:

Death, be / not proud, / though some / have call- / ed thee
Migh-ty / and dread- / ful, for / thou art / not so;
For those / whom thou / think'st thou / dost o- / ver-throw
Die not, / poor Death, / nor yet / canst thou / kill me.

The first problem arises in the initial line’s last two feet. Although it would have been typical in Donne’s era to pronounce the “-ed” in “called,” this scansion forces a metrically awkward transition into the second line: “though some / have call- / ed thee | Migh-ty.” It would be much more natural to say, “though some / have called / thee | Migh-ty.” However, this alternate version removes the line’s final stressed syllable. A generous reading might be that the speaker intentionally cuts the line short to show that they, unlike Death, have the power to end things. But some critics might find such a reading too forced.

Another issue arises in the second line, where Donne makes the unusual move of forcing a pause in the middle of a metrical foot. A pause like this typically comes between individual feet, so the comma that comes after “dreadful” is unexpected and suggests an alternative scansion that diverges wildly from iambic pentameter:

Migh-ty and / dread-ful, / for thou / art not / so

This version begins with a dactyl (stressed–unstressed–unstressed) and a trochee (stressed–unstressed). The second half of the line then shifts to iambic rhythm, but the final stressed syllable is missing. Despite sounding more natural, this version of the line is metrically problematic. By contrast, the third line showcases perfectly regular iambic pentameter. The only issue there is that the stress pattern forces a slightly odd cadence caused by the awkward repeated stress on the word “thou”: “For those / whom thou / think'st thou / dost o- / ver-throw.” Finally, the fourth line features a metrical ambiguity in the last two feet. Once again, forcing iambic rhythm creates a slightly awkward cadence: “nor yet / canst thou / kill me.” Though this version emphasizes the relationship between Death and the speaker (“thou” and “me”), it would be more natural to say, “nor yet / canst thou / kill me.”