Explication – Holy Sonnet #10
Written by: Tom Blaich
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so;
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou’art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy’or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
Explication is one of the simplest ways that we can analyze a piece. Put simply, it is a close reading, a deep look into a text to see what surfaces. This can take on a number of different forms, depending on the media that is being analyzed, from a line by line reading of a poem or song (like the one that we are going to be looking at today), to detailed character analyses from a movie or book, to an examination of a particular chapter or section (like our ongoing Anatomy of a Film) series. Today we are going to look at John Donne’s Holy Sonnet #10 and the themes of death and afterlife that it contains.
The whole poem revolves around this idea of personifying death, and therefore demystifying it. There is a fear of death in society built through the unknown, the experience of death being shrouded in mystery. But Donne tears away at this veil and portrays death as someone almost sympathetic. If we look at the line division here, we start to build up an image of an almost pitiable creature. He’s not “mighty and dreadful” but he is also not “proud”. “Some have called thee mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so” has a much different meaning than when split apart into separate statements, and both statements are equally valid. In this way, the 14 line poem can say so much more.
Separated out, this statement gain’s new meaning. “Die not, poor Death” seems more like a plea with Death, an equality being reached between the narrator and Death. No one fears them anymore. They have lost their threat and with it their power, and now we are left with a creature that we must console. But when we bring these statements together, we gain a picture of a failure, a more aggressive calling out of the very concept of death.
Far from being this monolithic concept of something we should avoid at all costs, Death is instead something that we should welcome with open arms, as friendly and familiar as going to sleep. The author is building a case for death, tearing it down from its pedestal to our level and bringing us much closer. We are told to hate death, to pity death, but also to welcome it.
As this is a sonnet, it does follow a particular format. The first eight lines and the final six lines operate as two separate sets, with different rhyme schemes and slightly different focuses. In the first eight lines, we look at what Death appears to be, and what it actually is. Why we shouldn’t fear Death and why we should instead welcome it. The next six lines are all about what we should fear instead of death, and how we welcome those things, and how, by that logic, Death is something to look forward to.
Death has no agency. No free will. It operates on the whims of others, stuck with the image that it is given. It is not feared because it is powerful, it is feared because of who and what is associated with it. The whole appearance of Death as a fearful being is fake, a charade, a house built on top of a frame made of sticks, ready to be toppled over at any seconds.
Don’t be proud Death. Drugs are better at what you do than you are, and you can do those over and over again. Nothing is special about Death.
This is why we shouldn’t fear Death. Why we instead should welcome it as an old friend. In accordance with the title of this poem as Holy Sonnet #10, this is a religious sonnet. Death is our one and only passage to the afterlife, to heaven, something that everyone must someday go through, and as such, why should we fear it? We do drugs, we go to sleep, we fight in wars and kill one another. Yet when Death comes for us we are afraid? We do so many things that resemble Death or bring Death to others, so it should be a familiar experience to us. Something that we’ve practiced over and over for years in preparation for this day. By its very action, Death loses its purpose. By us dying, we gain access to a world without death, without worry, and that reflects the way in which it is portrayed in this poem. By death, Death will die.
As we dig through the layers of a work carefully, we can peel back the different levels of meaning, slowly revealing more and more about a work than we would ever be able to see with a more cursory glance. This exercise is the foundation of criticism as many of us use it, and through its practice and mastery, we can become better critics.
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Tom has been writing about media since he was a senior in high school. He likes long walks on the beach, dark liquor, and when characters reload guns in action movies.
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_____________________________________________
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so;
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou’art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy’or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
Explication is one of the simplest ways that we can analyze a piece. Put simply, it is a close reading, a deep look into a text to see what surfaces. This can take on a number of different forms, depending on the media that is being analyzed, from a line by line reading of a poem or song (like the one that we are going to be looking at today), to detailed character analyses from a movie or book, to an examination of a particular chapter or section (like our ongoing Anatomy of a Film) series. Today we are going to look at John Donne’s Holy Sonnet #10 and the themes of death and afterlife that it contains.
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
The whole poem revolves around this idea of personifying death, and therefore demystifying it. There is a fear of death in society built through the unknown, the experience of death being shrouded in mystery. But Donne tears away at this veil and portrays death as someone almost sympathetic. If we look at the line division here, we start to build up an image of an almost pitiable creature. He’s not “mighty and dreadful” but he is also not “proud”. “Some have called thee mighty and dreadful, for thou are not so” has a much different meaning than when split apart into separate statements, and both statements are equally valid. In this way, the 14 line poem can say so much more.
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow / Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
Separated out, this statement gain’s new meaning. “Die not, poor Death” seems more like a plea with Death, an equality being reached between the narrator and Death. No one fears them anymore. They have lost their threat and with it their power, and now we are left with a creature that we must console. But when we bring these statements together, we gain a picture of a failure, a more aggressive calling out of the very concept of death.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, / Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
Far from being this monolithic concept of something we should avoid at all costs, Death is instead something that we should welcome with open arms, as friendly and familiar as going to sleep. The author is building a case for death, tearing it down from its pedestal to our level and bringing us much closer. We are told to hate death, to pity death, but also to welcome it.
Thou’art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, / And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
As this is a sonnet, it does follow a particular format. The first eight lines and the final six lines operate as two separate sets, with different rhyme schemes and slightly different focuses. In the first eight lines, we look at what Death appears to be, and what it actually is. Why we shouldn’t fear Death and why we should instead welcome it. The next six lines are all about what we should fear instead of death, and how we welcome those things, and how, by that logic, Death is something to look forward to.
Death has no agency. No free will. It operates on the whims of others, stuck with the image that it is given. It is not feared because it is powerful, it is feared because of who and what is associated with it. The whole appearance of Death as a fearful being is fake, a charade, a house built on top of a frame made of sticks, ready to be toppled over at any seconds.
And poppy’or charms can make us sleep as well / And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
Don’t be proud Death. Drugs are better at what you do than you are, and you can do those over and over again. Nothing is special about Death.
One short sleep past, we wake eternally, / And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.
This is why we shouldn’t fear Death. Why we instead should welcome it as an old friend. In accordance with the title of this poem as Holy Sonnet #10, this is a religious sonnet. Death is our one and only passage to the afterlife, to heaven, something that everyone must someday go through, and as such, why should we fear it? We do drugs, we go to sleep, we fight in wars and kill one another. Yet when Death comes for us we are afraid? We do so many things that resemble Death or bring Death to others, so it should be a familiar experience to us. Something that we’ve practiced over and over for years in preparation for this day. By its very action, Death loses its purpose. By us dying, we gain access to a world without death, without worry, and that reflects the way in which it is portrayed in this poem. By death, Death will die.
As we dig through the layers of a work carefully, we can peel back the different levels of meaning, slowly revealing more and more about a work than we would ever be able to see with a more cursory glance. This exercise is the foundation of criticism as many of us use it, and through its practice and mastery, we can become better critics.
____________________________________________
Tom has been writing about media since he was a senior in high school. He likes long walks on the beach, dark liquor, and when characters reload guns in action movies.
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