Attempts At Poetry Explication

Attempts at Poetry Explication

Death, be not proud (P 596)

Death, be not proud is the unusual portrayal of Death as a bringer of deliverance "...rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be..." rather than a figure of hell, torment, and punishment, "Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery." through a fourteen-line sonnet (written in iambic pentameter). The speaker emphasizes the inevitability of death through its personification which allots death a more formidable role through characterization. "...we wake eternally..." is an allusion to heaven, accentuating death's role as deliverer rather than a persecutor.

As a servant, a deliverer of souls, Death paradoxically dies at the end of the poem creating an effectual loop; the circle of life is seen even in death. The description of "soul's delivery" adds a light connotation to the apparently bright future of the afterlife. The poem is driven by a sonnet's abbaabbacddc rhyme pattern ending with the death of Death himself to emphasize the termination of the poem.

At this death, the speaker feels sympathy, "...poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me." for the plight of an entity portrayed as not truly malicious, but which merely brings peace to the living.

The Pulley

The Pulley, written with each stanza according to its own rhyme pattern (ababa 2 cdcdc) to distinctly mark four separate events, is the speaker's observations regarding the operation of God in his or her world. Strength, Beauty, Wisdom, Honor, and Ple...

Attempts At Poetry Explication

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