Death+Be+Not+Proud


 * Holy Sonnet 6 (Death be not proud) pg.269 **

Questions from textbook (pg. 270)

__What is the speaker's attitude toward his own confrontation w/ Death? __  The speaker has a self-assured attitude, out to diminish Death's power and prove its insignificance  //"poor Death, ... canst thou kill me" (line 4)//

__In the sestet, how does the speaker characterize Death? __  The speaker mocks Death, claiming that it's inferior

 ---to drugs & potions, for they're a much more appealing way to die & pleasurable, compared to Death's stroke  //"poppy or charms ... make us sleep as well / And better than thy stroke" (lines 11-12)//  poppy=opium

 --- a //"slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men" (line 9) -//all of which are causes of death

 it lives among //"poison, war, and sickness" (line 10)// --an awful & horrible place

__Explain the paradox in the last 2 lines __  //"Death, thou shalt die" (line 14)// -it's absurd & contradictory to think that Death could die, but the speaker argues  that death is simply the gateway to the aferlife

 the person experiences death or //"one short sleep" (line 13)// only then to go and live an eternal life, while Death is the <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> one that actually dies and disappears