"Death, be not proud" ~by John Donne

(#17)
The poem is a set of three quatrains followed by a couplet. The poem is also in direct address to death. In lines 5-8 "From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, much pleasure - then, from thee much more must flow," the speaker is says that death is not dreadful. A comparison is created between sleep and death. The speaker believes that death will be pleasant like sleep only more so. In lines 9-12 "Thou art a 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," the speaker says that death is not powerful. They believe that death will be a brief moment followed by the afterlife where they live eternally. However, the tone of the speaker is one of a man desperately trying to convince himself that there is nothing to fear in death. His uncertainty can be seen in the contradicting viewpoints the speaker makes. First, they say that death is more than sleep, but then they say that death is not strong. The poem is written in an argumentative style as the speaker tries to reassure himself about death.