Death, be not proud (Holy Sonnet 10)
Death, be not proud (Holy Sonnet 10)
by John Donne

Death, be not proud (Holy Sonnet 10) Themes

Little Words, Big Ideas

Mortality

The poem takes an assertive stand against mortality. It makes the paradoxical statement that morality is itself mortal. In other words, death doesn’t exist in the long run. But, the speaker w...

Dreams, Hopes, and Plans

The big dream and hope in the poem is to defeat Death and go to Heaven. The speaker is confident that his faith in God won’t let him down, but that’s the thing about faith: it doesnR...

Courage

We’ve got to admit it: we’re impressed. It takes real guts and chutzpah to stand up to Death. Throughout the entire length of the poem, the speaker never once drops his guard. In fact,...

Religion

Back in Donne’s day, the smartest, funniest, hippest writers – The Metaphysical Poets – are the ones who can talk about complex religious topics while letting fly with jokes, puns...