Death: we will surpass it and be forever beyond its reach

In “Death be not proud, though some have called thee (946),” John Donne artfully uses words of verse to humble fearsome death. Though John Donne’s poem was written over three hundred years ago, it has survived the centuries because it discusses the universal topic of death with a refreshing approach, one that causes people to reevaluate their concepts of death. Through use of personification, irony, and paradox, John Donne suggests that there is no reason to fear death and that the spirit, not death, shall be the victor of all things in the end.
The speaker of the poem begins by telling death blatantly that it has no reason to be proud: “for thou art not so” (line 2). Addressing death, a metaphysical being, rather than a single tangible being, clearly constitutes a metaphorical personification. John Donne uses this device continually in his poem to play on the logic of the readers. Examples of personification are as follows: his use of capitalization of the lett...