Question: The idea of the poet is the immortality of the soul in Death Be Not proud- prove.
or, Death Be Not proud Summary and Analysis.
Introduction
“Death Not Be Proud” is one of the famous sonnets in the collection of Holy sonnets written by John Donne (1572-1631). The main theme of the sonnet Death Not Be Proud is the immortality of the soul. Donne here uses various ideas to show the immortality of the soul in the following ways.
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Death works as a bridge to immortality
In the sonnet “Death Not Be Proud” Donne addresses death as a bridge to reach the immortality of the soul. But some people think that death is mighty and powerful, and it destroys all. But Donne’s opinion differs in this regard. He asserts that death has no power to demolish all rather it is a helpless object. So according to Donne death works as the bridge to gain the immortality of the soul.
Death is the agent of fate
Regarding death, the poet says it is a slave or an agent of fate. In everyman’s fate death is certain. In Islam, Allah says “All creatures have to take the test of death”. In Donne’s poem, this fact is proved.
Death releases the soul from the prison of a body
Immortality is the subject of eternal or divine life. Through death, the soul is free from the cage of the body and it is immortal. In fact, death does not kill human beings, it is death which itself dies.
Death is like a short sleep
Donne’s arguments about the immortality of the soul are practical with the belief of Christianity. Poet says that death is not powerful and horrible rather it is a short sleep. It gives man temporary sleep as poisonous sleep like Opium and other drugs. It gives greater rest and relaxation for eternal life.
“One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more, Death thou shalt die.”
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Conclusion
To sum up, it must be said that Donne has personified death for giving immortality of the soul and he ends his sonnet with a paradoxical statement that man is immortal and death is mortal.
