Death, not be proud questions

1) If death was suddenly the newest member of our class, would you avoid him? be nice to him? be nice to him and try to get on his good side? how does the poet speak to death?

If death was the newest member of our class, id probably be very hesitant to approach him and speak to him, but Id get a bit closer to him, to observe his actions, and what he does closely, to see if he is actually a murderer, or as the poet of this poem looks at him, a slave to fate, kings, chances and desperate men who ask death to kill and order the death, rather than death coming by itself. John Donne looks down at death because he believes that death cant come to him and he cant kill him, nor the people he would like to kill, he is not who decides to take the lives of the people away.

2) Death with a capital D means that death is personified as a character representing the idea of death. Why might Donne choose to personify?

Death is personified and is looked as a person, therefore his 'name' which is death is capitalized. He also personifies death because he is speaking directly to him, to show that he is not afraid of him, and by doing that he brings him down to size, like any other person and not a huge concept that should be feared that much.

3) What is the speakers tone in this poem? What words or phrases tell you so?

The speaker has an aggressive and condescending tone, by his approach towards Death. He rags when he tells 'Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings and desperate men' 'poor death', this shows that he may be actually scared of death but he wants to believe that death is not something to be afraid of, because other things can kill better than death can, like strokes etc.

4)What reasons does the speaker give that death should not be proud?

The reasons that the speaker gives to death to not be proud is when he tells death that hes always dealing with poison, war and sickness which is not a good thing to be doing. Also, he makes him seem less superior and powerful but shamed when he tells death for those that you (death) think you killed, they didn't die- poor death and you cant kill me.

5)The dominant metaphorical concept in this poem is Death as Adversary. In what ways is death like an adversary?

He is portrayed as an adversary because people fear death, and the pain that death puts us in and it takes something very valuable from us in an aggressive way, when you dont want to give your life away to 'death'.

6) If death is an adversary, how does the speaker suggest death can be defeated?

I think that what he tries to suggest is that once your dead, we wake up eternally- forever, meaning that death is then dead and cannot defeat us anymore.

7)What does the concept of Death as Adversary tell us about our culture? What might some other ways of viewing death be?

The concept of Death being an adversary tells us that our culture does not accept death as a good thing, and this is shown in our culture by all the crying that happens when a person dies, or even the funerals (wearing black- all crying).