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Page 1: John Donne “Death Be Not Proud” Two types of sonnet o Shakespearean sonnet o Petrarchan sonnet How choices of form allow for different poetic effects How

John Donne “Death Be Not Proud”

• Two types of sonneto Shakespearean sonneto Petrarchan sonnet

• How choices of form allow for different poetic effects

• How deviations from form can effect reader response

• The uses of personification

Miniature of John Donne by Isaac Oliver, 1616. (The Royal Collection)

Page 2: John Donne “Death Be Not Proud” Two types of sonnet o Shakespearean sonnet o Petrarchan sonnet How choices of form allow for different poetic effects How

Poetry Critical Analysis

• Two key questions:

1. What does the poem seek to do?2. How does the poem do what it

does?

Page 3: John Donne “Death Be Not Proud” Two types of sonnet o Shakespearean sonnet o Petrarchan sonnet How choices of form allow for different poetic effects How

How does the poem do what it does?

Use of formal and rhetoric strategies:

• Form – What Genre of poem is it? What Meter, Rhyme scheme & stanza structure is used?

• Diction – attention to the poet’s word choice, imagery and metaphor• Design – the movement of thought in the poem• Tone – How is emotion conveyed or implied?

Page 4: John Donne “Death Be Not Proud” Two types of sonnet o Shakespearean sonnet o Petrarchan sonnet How choices of form allow for different poetic effects How

Vocabulary: M.H. Abrams Glossary of Literary Terms• Italian or Petrachan (abbaabba cdecde) (Octave and Sestet)• English or Shakespearean (ababcdcdefefgg) (3 quatrains and a couplet)

Sonnet – one of the oldest verse forms. 14 lines of verse.

Stanza – a grouping of verse lines in a poem

Quatrain – 4 lines of verse or a four line stanza form

Octave – (in a Petrachan sonnet) 8 lines of verse

Sestet – (in a Petrachan sonnet) 6 lines of verse

Couplet – (in a Shakespearean sonnet) a pair of rhymed lines

Page 5: John Donne “Death Be Not Proud” Two types of sonnet o Shakespearean sonnet o Petrarchan sonnet How choices of form allow for different poetic effects How

Shakespearean or English Sonnet

• Lyric poem in iambic pentameter• Rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef gg• 3 quatrains (4 lines of verse) and a concluding

couplet

http://www.starve.org/teaching/intro-poetry/welcome.html

Page 6: John Donne “Death Be Not Proud” Two types of sonnet o Shakespearean sonnet o Petrarchan sonnet How choices of form allow for different poetic effects How

Sonnet 18: FormShall I compare thee to a summer's day? aThou art more lovely and more temperate: b quatrainRough winds do shake the darling buds of May, aAnd summer's lease hath all too short a date: b

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, cAnd often is his gold complexion dimmed, d quatrainAnd every fair from fair sometime declines, cBy chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed: d

But thy eternal summer shall not fade, eNor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, f quatrainNor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade, eWhen in eternal lines to time thou grow'st, f So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, g couplet So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. g

Page 7: John Donne “Death Be Not Proud” Two types of sonnet o Shakespearean sonnet o Petrarchan sonnet How choices of form allow for different poetic effects How

Petrachan or Italian Sonnet

• Rhyme scheme (abbaabba cdecde) • (Octave and Sestet – relation between these

crucial )

http://www.starve.org/teaching/intro-poetry/welcome.html

Page 8: John Donne “Death Be Not Proud” Two types of sonnet o Shakespearean sonnet o Petrarchan sonnet How choices of form allow for different poetic effects How

Death, be not proud – Petrarchan or Shakespearean??

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee aMighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; bFor those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow bDie not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. aFrom rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, aMuch pleasure; then from thee much more must flow, bAnd soonest our best men with thee do go, bRest of their bones, and soul's delivery. aThou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, cAnd dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, dAnd poppy or charms can make us sleep as well dAnd better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then? cOne short sleep past, we wake eternally aAnd death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die. a

octave

sestet

Rhyming couplet

Page 9: John Donne “Death Be Not Proud” Two types of sonnet o Shakespearean sonnet o Petrarchan sonnet How choices of form allow for different poetic effects How

John Donne: 1572-1631Playful erotic love poems & Holy Sonnets

Page 10: John Donne “Death Be Not Proud” Two types of sonnet o Shakespearean sonnet o Petrarchan sonnet How choices of form allow for different poetic effects How

Death, be not proud – Petrarchan or Shakespearean??

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee aMighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; bFor those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow bDie not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. aFrom rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, aMuch pleasure; then from thee much more must flow, bAnd soonest our best men with thee do go, bRest of their bones, and soul's delivery. aThou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, cAnd dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, dAnd poppy or charms can make us sleep as well dAnd better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then? cOne short sleep past, we wake eternally aAnd death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die. a

octave

sestet

Rhyming CoupletHalf-rhyme

Page 11: John Donne “Death Be Not Proud” Two types of sonnet o Shakespearean sonnet o Petrarchan sonnet How choices of form allow for different poetic effects How

Design - Personification and argument

• Design of the poem is based on an extended metaphor or conceit – the personification of Death

• Death is addressed directly like a person

• Donne uses the second-

person singular (implied or stated as thou, thee, and thy).

Page 12: John Donne “Death Be Not Proud” Two types of sonnet o Shakespearean sonnet o Petrarchan sonnet How choices of form allow for different poetic effects How

The Personification of Death in “Death be not Proud”

Terry Pratchett’s Character Death

John Donne’s Death• Both based on the notion of

the Grim Reaper• Use of personification, irony

and parody• “Poor death” – the reader is

urged to have some sympathy with the character of death addressed in the poem

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Meter and RhythmIambic pentameter

From REST..|..and SLEEP,..|..which BUT..|..thy PIC..|..tures BE Much PLEA..|..sure; THEN..|..from THEE..|..much MORE..|..must FLOW, And SOON..|..est OUR..|..best MEN..|..with THEE..|..do GO

AlliterationFor those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then One short sleep past, we wake eternally And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die


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