Divine Meditation 10: Death, be not proud: Key Poetic Devices

Allusion

An allusion (uh-LOO-zhun) is a passing reference to a literary or historical person, place, or event, usually made without explicit identification. For those readers familiar with the Bible, it will be immediately clear that Donne’s central conceit about Death’s powerlessness alludes to a famous biblical passage from I Corinthians. In the fifteenth chapter of that book, Paul addresses the church in Corinth, speaking of the power of Christ. Specifically, Paul describes how through his suffering, death, and resurrection, Christ has ensured salvation and life everlasting for all those who believe in him. Encapsulating this idea in a pithy paradox, Paul declares: “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (I Corinthians 15:26). Donne alludes to Paul’s claim in his own paradoxical conclusion: “Death, thou shalt die” (line 14). Intriguingly, the final line of Donne’s sonnet also closely resembles the final line of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 146: “And Death once dead, there’s no more dying then.” Shakespeare’s sonnets were first published in 1609, the same year Donne began writing his Holy Sonnets. It may thus be the case that, in addition to the Bible, Donne is also alluding to his great contemporary.

Caesura

The term caesura (say-ZHOO-ruh) refers to any interruption or break that occurs in the middle of a poetic line. Caesura has long history in English poetry. Its original use in Anglo-Saxon verse involved a strong pause in the precise middle of each line, which had a highly formal effect. In later English poetry, however, caesura came to have a less formal quality, with poets often using it to reflect the more natural cadences of everyday speech. Donne’s liberal deployment of caesura in “Death, be not proud” reflects the later, less formal usage, giving the language of the poem a more conversational flow. We can see this effect already in the opening lines:

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so

The commas in these lines give the speaker’s speech a direct quality. The slight hesitation after the opening invocation of “Death” also has a quietly humorous effect, as though immediately after uttering its name the speaker needs to breathe a patronizing sigh. Though Donne’s use of caesura gives the language a conversational cadence, it also sometimes compromises the poem’s metrical flow. In the second line, for instance, the comma forces an awkward pause in the middle of a metrical foot: “Migh-ty / and dread- / ful, for / thou art / not so.”

Paradox

In literary analysis, the term paradox refers to a statement that appears contradictory but can be interpreted in a way that makes logical sense. A familiar type of paradox is known as an oxymoron, which refers specifically to paradoxical statements that link two apparently contradictory terms, like “pretty ugly” or “crash landing.” The chief feature of oxymoron is its compression. By contrast, instances of paradox are more developed and sustained. In Donne’s poem, the central conceit of Death’s ultimate powerlessness builds toward a culminating paradox. After working through several examples of Death’s powerlessness in the sonnet’s three quatrains, the speaker arrives at a shocking conclusion in the couplet (lines 13–14):

One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

If it’s true that Death is little more than “one short sleep” after which “we wake eternally,” then Death is effectively no longer a true harbinger of our mortality, and hence we have nothing to fear from it. But the implication of this observation is truly startling. If Death doesn’t mark a true end to life, then mortality is, paradoxically, mortal. That is, Death itself “[shall] die.”

Personification

Personification refers to instances where a poet invests an inanimate object or abstract concept with human-like attributes or feelings. This literary device is central to Donne’s poem, which personifies the concept of death as a human-like figure whom the speaker refers to as “Death.” The personification of death has a long history in literature and popular culture. This tradition frequently depicts Death as a brooding figure in a long, black, hooded cloak. Death is also often seen bearing a scythe, which is a long, curved blade used for harvesting crops—and souls. In Donne’s poem, however, we don’t get any references to this traditional iconography. Instead of acknowledging the paraphernalia that makes Death so frightful, the speaker strips Death of all its metaphysical power. Yet because the speaker doesn’t actively describe Death’s appearance in the poem, the personification is subtle and somewhat implicit. One way personification shows up is in the speaker’s direct address: “Death, be not proud” (line 1). Such an address, also known as apostrophe (uh-PAW-struh-fee), implicitly projects a human-like addressee. The speaker further implies Death’s human-like qualities by insisting that it shouldn’t be “proud” and that it will eventually “die.” Pride and mortality are both distinctly human attributes.

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