"Death, be not proud"-John Donne

     I feel that Donne's "Death, be not proud" is a sort of testament to the saying "only the good die young", or vice versa.  In this poem, death is neither a positive nor negative experience.  The speaker explains that death is not as horrific as culture has made it out to be.  I also believe the speaker cannot accept death as a dreadful experience if "And soonest our best men with thee do go," (Donne, 971).  This sonnet attempts to decrease the amount of power death has over the audience.  The speaker refers to death as a "slave".  In truth, death cannot be all that powerful if fate, chance, and men have the ability to utilize it as punishment.  I think this is meant to take away the sense of godliness associated with death.  In the final lines, the speaker makes a somewhat religious reference when he says "One short sleep passes, we wake eternally" (Donne, 972).  Death, in this sense, is not a powerful force; rather, God pulling us into eternity with him is where the force is strongest.