Death Be Not Proud ( poem ) - wikipedia Death Be Not Proud ( poem ) `` Death Be Not Proud '' redirects here. For the memoir by John Gunther, see Death Be Not Proud ( book ). This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. ( April 2014 ) Sonnet X. `` Death be not proud '' by John Donne Portrait of John Donne Written between February and August 1609 First published in Songs and Sonnets ( 1633 ) Country Kingdom of England Series Holy Sonnets Subject ( s ) Christianity, Mortality, Resurrection, Eternal Life Genre ( s ) religious poetry, devotional poetry Form Sonnet Rhyme scheme abba abba cddcae Lines 14 Sonnet X, also known by its opening words as `` Death Be Not Proud '', is a fourteen - line poem, or sonnet, by English poet John Donne ( 1572 -- 1631 ), one of the leading figures in the metaphysical poets of seventeenth - century English literature. Written between February and August 1609, it was not published during Donne 's lifetime ; it was first published posthumously in 1633. It is included as one of the nineteen sonnets that comprise Donne 's Holy Sonnets or Divine Meditations, among his most well - known works. Most editions number the poem as the tenth in the sonnet sequence, which follows the order of poems in the Westmoreland Manuscript ( circa 1620 ), the most complete arrangement of the cycle, discovered in the late nineteenth century. However, two editions published shortly after Donne 's death include the sonnets in a different order, where this poem appears as eleventh in the Songs and Sonnets ( published 1633 ) and sixth in Divine Meditations ( published 1635 ). `` Death Be Not Proud '' presents an argument against the power of death. Addressing Death as a person, the speaker warns Death against pride in his power. Such power is merely an illusion, and the end Death thinks it brings to men and women is in fact a rest from world - weariness for its alleged `` victims. '' The poet criticizes Death as a slave to other forces : fate, chance, kings, and desperate men. Death is not in control, for a variety of other powers exercise their volition in taking lives. Even in the rest it brings, Death is inferior to drugs. Finally, the speaker predicts the end of Death itself, stating `` Death, thou shalt die. '' Contents 1 Poem 2 Notable use in pop culture 3 Further reading 4 References 5 External links Poem `` Holy Sonnet X '' Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for, thou art not so, For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow, Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me. From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee, Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee doe goe, Rest of their bones, and souls deliverie. Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell, And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well, And better than thy stroake ; why swell'st thou then ; One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally, And death shall be no more ; Death, thou shalt die. Donne suffered a major illness that brought him close to death during his eighth year as an Anglican minister. The illness may have been typhoid fever, but in recent years it has been shown that he may have had a relapsing fever in combination with other illnesses. The sonnet has an ABBA ABBA CDD CAE rhyme scheme. The last line alludes to 1 Corinthians 15 : 26 : `` The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death ''. The poem 's opening words are echoed in a contemporary poem, `` Death be not proud, thy hand gave not this blow '', sometimes attributed to Donne, but more likely by his patron Lucy Harington Russell, Countess of Bedford. Notable use in pop culture `` Death Be Not Proud '' was partially recited by Jason Miller as Patient X in the film The Exorcist III. The first two and last two lines of `` Death Be Not Proud '' are recited by Paladin in The Prophet ( Episode 16, Season 3 of Have Gun - Will Travel ). The poem was set for voice and piano by Benjamin Britten as the concluding song in his song cycle The Holy Sonnets of John Donne. Emma Thompson 's character, Vivian Bearing, recites the poem in Wit, where John Donne plays a central role. The first two lines are recited at the beginning of the title track to Children of Bodom 's third album Follow the Reaper. Further reading John Donne, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, ed. by Anthony Raspa ( Montreal : McGill - Queen 's University Press, 1975 ), xii -- xiv. Charles M. Coffin 's ed. Donne 's poetry, The Complete Poetry and Selected Prose of John Donne ( New York : The Modern Library, 1952 References Jump up ^ `` Analysis of John Donne 's Death Be Not Proud ''. Slideshare.net. Retrieved 6 November 2017. External links Wikisource has original text related to this article : Death be not proud `` Death Be Not Proud '' in Representative Poetry Online http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides3/DeathBe.html http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15836 Death Be Not Proud public domain audiobook at LibriVox hide Works by John Donne Prose Biathanatos ( 1608 ) Pseudo-Martyr ( 1610 ) Ignatius His Conclave ( 1611 ) Devotions upon Emergent Occasions ( 1624 ) Poetry `` Death Be Not Proud '' ( 1610 ) `` A Valediction : Forbidding Mourning '' ( 1611 ) `` The Canonization '' ( published 1633 ) `` The Good - Morrow '' ( published 1633 ) `` Elegy XIX : To His Mistress Going to Bed '' ( published 1654 ) `` The Flea '' ( published 1633 ) `` The Dream '' ( published 1635 ) Holy Sonnets `` A Hymn to God the Father '' Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Death_Be_Not_Proud_(poem)&oldid=843103925 '' Categories : 1609 poems 1633 poems Poetry by John Donne Poems about death Poems published posthumously Hidden categories : Articles lacking in - text citations from April 2014 All articles lacking in - text citations Articles with LibriVox links Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikisource Latina Nederlands Simple English Edit links This page was last edited on 26 May 2018, at 22 : 25. 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Question: who wrote the poem death be not proud
Answer: English poet John Donne