Death Not Be Proud And Anne Finch's To Death

Whether one finds the thought of death terrifying or inviting, it will inevitably find us all. Thoughts on death is addressed in John Donne’s sonnet, “Death Not Be Proud,” and Anne Finch’s poem, “To Death.” Both are aware of death’s power, but Donne wants to take that power away while Finch wishes to show respect for it. Because Donne believes in an afterlife, death holds no power whereas Finch fears death, submitting to its power. In his defiance, Donne’s speaker undermines death by pointing out that it cannot kill, but instead delivers people into an eternal life. In her fear, Finch’s speaker submits to death while showing respect for its unbridled power over human beings. Through use of apostrophe and personification, Donne confronts death.

Finch is calm and respectful towards the nature and process of death because she is afraid unlike Donne, that undermines death by showing that it merely leads the way to an eternal life. In showing appreciation, the speaker addresses death as “king of terrors.” (line 1) By associating death to a king, Finch’s speaker is conveying how death should be perceived as something that “all that have life must certainly obey.” (line 2) But by also saying death is not only king but “king of terrors,” she personifies death as a scary ruler, something she can respect but is submissive towards (line 1). This opposes Donne’s speaker, who is defiant yet confident in believing death lacks power over humanity. Both speakers view death's process as inconvenient but Finch’s speaker is more fearful, “trembl[ing]” at the ways in which one could die (line 8). This addresses that the speaker is afraid of the pains in dying, but feels “no apprehension” to die (line 7). Acknowledging that though death is frightening, the speaker has a humble respect for the power death has. The speaker claims to be “thy prey,” or deaths prey as she dies in “thy cold