Death is the inevitable conclusion to life. However, death lays on two different spectrums; a weak antagonist and a charming suitor. These two ideas are presented in the poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson and “Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne. They both personify death to explain the idea of death and the wonder of eternal life. Even though both personify death, they have different perspectives of death. In Dickinson’s poem, death is not as terrifying as it is believed to be by most people. She sees death as a beautiful thing, a new chapter, rather than the last chapter. In contrast, Donne personifies death as a bully who turns out not to be so tough. Death is often thought of as dark and frightening, but Dickinson describes death as a journey, and not just a single event that concludes a life. In her …show more content…
He sees death as a form of gentle sleep. Donne writes “And poppy charms can make us sleep as well/ And better than thy stroke; why swell 'st thou then? (Donne 11-12). He describes death as sleep and compares it to a drug. He indicates that we don’t need death. We can just use drugs and magic charms to sleep well. Donne’s purpose in this poem is to convince the reader that death is nothing to be afraid of. He shows that we don’t need to fear death but death needs to fear life. Death is something that everyone must face at some point. But we cannot fear death and stop living our lives to the fullest. This idea is presented in the poems “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” by Emily Dickinson and “Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne. Emily Dickinson sees death as a beautiful journey. She claims death to be an amazing beginning rather than an end to the life. John Donne explores the concept of how death is only as powerful as we perceive it to be. Both use personification to illustrate that death should not be