John Donne: Poems

What does the speaker tell Death in the first four lines of Death Be Not Proud?

john donne

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By addressing Death, Donne makes it/him into a character through personification. The poet warns death to avoid pride (line 1) and reconsider its/his position as a “Mighty and dreadful” force (line 2). He concludes the introductory argument of the first quatrain by declaring to death that those it claims to kill “Die not” (line 4), and neither can the poet himself be stricken in this way.

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Sonnet 10, GradeSaver