Back to series
Poem: On Death
Click here to open a Print-Friendly PDF
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.1
1Pat Alexander, Eerdmans Book of Christian Poetry: A Treasury of Poems and the Stories of Their Writers (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1981), p. 22

John Donne
PoetJohn Donne, c.1572 – 1631) is one of the greatest of the ‘metaphysical’ poets of the seventeenth century, whose poetry is marked by striking images, wit and intellectual complexity. Donne became an Anglican priest and was later appointed Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, London. There he preached a series of great sermons, many of them before King Charles I. His statue, for which he posed in his shroud, can be seen in St Paul’s today.

COPYRIGHT: This publication is published by C.S. Lewis Institute; 8001 Braddock Road, Suite 301; Springfield, VA 22151. Portions of the publication may be reproduced for noncommercial, local church or ministry use without prior permission. Electronic copies of the PDF files may be duplicated and transmitted via e-mail for personal and church use. Articles may not be modified without prior written permission of the Institute. For questions, contact the Institute: 703.914.5602 or email us.
-
Recent Podcasts
An Honest Search for God – Dr. Jay Medenwaldt’s Story
by Jana Harmon, Jay Medenwaldt on June 20, 2025Why do people believe in God? In this...Read More
-
Moving Beyond Forgiveness to an Abundant Life
by Robert Saucy, Aimee Riegert on June 13, 2025
-
Is There Something More? – Laura Zifer Powell’s Story
by Laura Zifer Powell, Jana Harmon on June 6, 2025
-
Recent Publications
Are Miracles Possible
by Christopher L. Reese on June 1, 2025The 21st century has provoked many conversations and...Read More
-
Is God Just, Not Fair?
by Jennifer Rothschild on May 15, 2025
-
Seeking Dietrich Bonhoeffer
by Joseph A. Kohm on April 29, 2025
0
All Booked
0.00
All Booked
0.00
All Booked
22904
GLOBAL EVENT: 2025 Study Tour of C.S. Lewis’s Belfast & Oxford
https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/?event=global-event-2025-study-tour-of-c-s-lewiss-belfast-oxford&event_date=2025-06-24®=1
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr
2025-06-24

Next coming event
Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds
GLOBAL EVENT: 2025 Study Tour of C.S. Lewis’s Belfast & Oxford
On June 24, 2025 at 12:00 pmat Belfast, Northern Ireland & Oxford, EnglandSpeakers
John Donne
Poet
Team Members

John Donne
PoetJohn Donne, c.1572 – 1631) is one of the greatest of the ‘metaphysical’ poets of the seventeenth century, whose poetry is marked by striking images, wit and intellectual complexity. Donne became an Anglican priest and was later appointed Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, London. There he preached a series of great sermons, many of them before King Charles I. His statue, for which he posed in his shroud, can be seen in St Paul’s today.
