Death, be not proud~ John Donne

The poem "Death, be not proud" by John Donne personifies death. Donne commands death to become humble. Because death cannot keep humans from reaching heaven or hell, Donne names death "one short sleep (Donne, 972)". By demoting death from a scary event to a simple sleep, Donne humbles him. It seems less petrifying. Also, Donne encourages death to take him if death would cease to exist. He believes that by dying, people can live again. In the end, death dies because it cannot terminate a person's life fully. Death may capture the lives of men, but he cannot stop them from waking. Death only stops life for a quick time before God opens the person's eyes in heaven.