1. John Donne “Death Be Not Proud”
Two types of sonnet
Shakespearean sonnet
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, (The Royal Collection)

2. Poetry Critical Analysis
Two key questions:
What does the poem seek to do?
How does the poem do what it does?

3. 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?

4. Vocabulary: M.H. Abrams Glossary of Literary Terms
Sonnet – one of the oldest verse forms. 14 lines of verse.
Italian or Petrachan (abbaabba cdecde) (Octave and Sestet)
English or Shakespearean (ababcdcdefefgg) (3 quatrains and a couplet)
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

5. 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

6. Sonnet 18: Form
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? a Thou art more lovely and more temperate: b quatrain Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, a And summer's lease hath all too short a date: b
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, c And often is his gold complexion dimmed, d quatrain And every fair from fair sometime declines, c By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed: d
But thy eternal summer shall not fade, e Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st, f quatrain Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade, e When 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

7. Petrachan or Italian Sonnet
Rhyme scheme (abbaabba cdecde)
(Octave and Sestet – relation between these crucial )

8. Death, be not proud – Petrarchan or Shakespearean??
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee a Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; b For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow b Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. a From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, a Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow, b And soonest our best men with thee do go, b Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery. a Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, c And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, d And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well d And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then? c One short sleep past, we wake eternally a And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die. a
octave
sestet
Rhyming
couplet

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

10. Death, be not proud – Petrarchan or Shakespearean??
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee a Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; b For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow b Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. a From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, a Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow, b And soonest our best men with thee do go, b Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery. a Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, c And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, d And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well d And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then? c One short sleep past, we wake eternally a And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die. a
octave
sestet
Rhyming
Couplet
Half-rhyme

11. 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).

12. The Personification of Death in “Death be not Proud”
John Donne’s Death
Terry Pratchett’s
Character 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

13. Meter and Rhythm Iambic 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
Alliteration
For 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