Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?
These words are quite well known and loved. However, one of my favorite expressions of that wondrous truth that death’s power has been overcome is the 17th English poet John Donne’s Holy Sonnet X, which is almost equally famous, for its first line in particular:
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou are 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.
Although personification is a rather common device in English poetry, for me, the idea of addressing Death and even belittling it (“Poor Death…Why swell’st thou then?”) still seems quite striking. Moreover, the triumphant tone of the third and fourth lines (“For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow/Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me”) cannot fail to stir the soul of a believer. Still, for me the most wonderful part of the poem is its two last lines. To use sleep as a metaphor for death is quite commonplace, but the following idea, that from the sleep of death “we wake eternally,” creates a wonderful contrast (and also makes one wonder what it will be like to be awake eternally!). The last line echoes the words of Revelation 21:4 (“’There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’”), then comes the magnificent closing phrase “Death, thou shalt die”--a paradox of the sort Donne, as one of the “metaphysical poets,” seemed to delight it.
Of course, no human words can fully express the wonder of the power of the Resurrection, but for me, Donne’s sonnet comes pretty close. Perhaps you would agree with me. I wish all my readers a blessed Easter!