Death, Be Not Proud

In the poem "Death, Be Not Proud" by John Donne, the writer expresses death as a person. Death is personified throughout the course of the poem. In the first line of the poem, the writer gives death, as a person, advice. "Death, be not proud, though some though some have called thee mighty and dreadful" (Donne, 1-2). The author is warning death to not take pride in what they have done. Rather, the poem is telling death not to take pride in anything that they do. Another example of where death is personified is in line four where the poem talks about not dying. "Die not, poor death, nor yet canst though kill me" (Donne, 4).  Death is once again personified in the poem by Donne when it talks dealing with poison, war and sick. Poison, war, and sickness are daily issues that humans have to deal with. The personification throughout the poem gets the readers attention. The personification allows the reader to realize that they are the audience of the poem.