"Death, be not proud" by John Donne

Line 11:

And poppy or charms can make us sleepy as well.

This comparison between the effects of death and the effects of a poppy really understates death's power. Death is typically seen as the permanent sleep; the speaker compares it here to a short sleep caused by the poppy flower. He is saying that death's sleep really isn't permanent, that we will "wake eternally" (line 13); he is saying there is life after death. He also says Death is a slave to fate and "desperate men" (line 9). I think he is not actually trying to convince Death that his power is not absolute, even though this poem is an apostrophe to Death. I think the speaker is actually trying to convince himself that death is not permanent. Since he calls Death a slave to men, he is essentially calling Death his own slave (since he is a man). He is trying to give himself power over Death, to make himself feel better about death and the afterlife.

Until Next Time,
Alysse