1) If Donne was speaking to death in "Death be not Proud" who is the speaker of this poem addressing? What poetic device is at work here?

The speaker of this poem is addressing sleep, and personifying speak as if it was a person. The speaker says "o soft embalmer of the still midnight", he personifies sleep by saying it has fingers.

2)Embalmers usually preserve te dead with chemicals before they are buried. What metaphor does the speaker use to describe sleep in the opening lines of the poem? How is sleep an embalmer?

Sleep is like an embalmers because your feelings and thoughts are still within you, but you look dead and your body is preserved, therefore sleep is relaxes you and you're dead but not permanently.

3)Why does the speaker think forgetfulness is divine?

The speaker says 'Enshaded in forgetful divine: O soothest sleep!' meaning that the moment you start to fall asleep, you tend to forget everything happening in your life and your worries. He then calls sleep to be soothing.

4) What does sleep save the speaker from? Why does he value it so much?

It saves him from curious conscience and troubles, or maybe from his stressful lives. So sleep is like his one place where he can get away from curious conscience and all his troubles.

5)How does the speaker describe his conscience? Identify three examples of poetic devices he uses.

'Save me from curious conscience, that still lords Its strength for darkness, burrowing like a mole'. The speaker is personifying his conscience by saying its curious curious, and the dark is where he thinks the most, he similises conscience to a mole because a mole is a creature that buries itself in the dark, and his thoughts are buried in the dark, and when you sleep all your thoughts rush in your head.

Alliteration is also used 'Curious Conscience'.

6) What metaphor does the speaker use to describe his soul? What do these things have in common with each other?

He describes his soul as a hushed casket, which is a container that is closed or sealed. He wants to lock the casket away with all his thoughts in it and keep it away from him.

7) Sleep is compared to death on several occasions. in what way is sleep like death?

Sleep and death are both resting places, or peaceful places. When a person dies, they look like they're asleep and also when a person sleeps, he/she looks dead. Also, in both cases you dont think about your worries.

8)Based on his feelings about sleep, how might you image the speaker feel about death?

I think that the speaker feels the same way about sleep at death, but he would look at death as permanently sleeping, therefore he might has the same tone since he welcomes sleep and praises it in the poem.

9) How is the poems conception of death different from 'Death be Not Proud"?

The speaker of Death be Not Proud is not as keen and relaxed about the concept of death and dying, and may feel that it is not necessarily a good thing, but in the other hand the poem 'sleep' welcomes the concept of sleep and relaxation and praises it, therefore the tone of the poem is different than the previous' poems tone.