The smooth stream of the iambic pentameter is at times disrupted by enjambments, or run-on lines, untypical of the sonnet form in general (Donne, lines 6, 12, and 14). The rhyming scheme of the first octave (ABBA ABBA) corresponds to Italian tradition as well, with the final sestet demonstrating a slight digression (CDDC EE). Following the tradition of Italian sonnet developed by Petrarch in the fourteenth century, the fourteen lines of the poem divide into an eight-line stanza (octave), presenting the theme, and a six-line stanza (sestet), developing the main idea. Perhaps one of the most representative poems among Donne’s works, “Death, Be Not Proud” initially appeared as “Holy Sonnet X” in a collection of nineteen sonnets. Such attitude is passionately expressed in John Donne’s sonnet “Death, Be Not Proud”, where the poet asserts human prevalence over Death since the latter is denied its dominating status and ascribed a role of a mere assistant in the inevitable course of events.
The latter approach is characteristic, inter alia, of the followers of Christian religion supporting the belief that body is but a perishable envelope containing immortal soul, and therefore considering Death to be not a tragic end to one’s life but triumphant emancipation of one’s soul on its way to eternity. Perceived with terror and aversion by ones, Death was gratefully accepted by others as a gateway to the eternal life of the soul. Trying to cognize and understand the sacrament of Death, people assumed a different attitude to it depending on the ideological framework of the time. In the circle of life Death is the ultimate destination and the greatest mystery to solve unknown and enigmatic, Death both draws people’s attention and scares them, since it takes away the most precious of all gifts, the gift of life. Among the cornerstone issues of human existence is the aspect of relations between man and Death.
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