John Donne was born in 1572 and died in 1631. Donne studied at Oxford, Cambridge, and Lincoln's Inn, but he never received a degree. He began his studies at age eleven. He was appointed as Keeper of the Great Seal in 1598 and married in secret a few years later which resulted in loss of his position and a brief imprisonment when they were found out. After prison he worked as a lawyer in London until entering service in the Anglican church where he moved from position to position every so often. As a preacher, he was praised for his eloquent services and was a marvel of his time. His works had many subjects and he did some work on how suicide may not be completely sinful. He became obsessed with death as he neared his own and wrote a sermon called "Death's Duel" shortly before his death.
The Funeral
WHOEVER comes to shroud me, do not harm,
Nor question much,
That subtle wreath of hair, which crowns my arm ;
The mystery, the sign, you must not touch ;
For 'tis my outward soul,
Viceroy to that, which then to heaven being gone,
Will leave this to control
And keep these limbs, her provinces, from dissolution.
For if the sinewy thread my brain lets fall
Through every part
Can tie those parts, and make me one of all,
Those hairs which upward grew, and strength and art
Have from a better brain,
Can better do 't ; except she meant that I
By this should know my pain,
As prisoners then are manacled, when they're condemn'd to die.
Whate'er she meant by it, bury it with me,
For since I am
Love's martyr, it might breed idolatry,
If into other hands these relics came.
As 'twas humility
To afford to it all that a soul can do,
So 'tis some bravery,
That since you would have none of me, I bury some of you.
I enjoyed this poem. It has a somber tone, but at the same time I got the feeling he was being spiteful of the dead. I've never been good at reading into poems. I want to say he is talking about Death coming for him and he fights Death and says not to take his soul. He talks about leaving his body behind when his soul goes to Heaven and how the Earth reclaims his flesh. In the second verse, he talks about being condemned to die. I think he is referring to the feeling of Death knocking at his door. He can feel his death nearing and he compares this feeling to a death row prisoner's feelings. In the last verse, he references his own death, but ends by talking about the death of someone who slighted him or refused him in some way, but who is now dead. I feel that he is laughing at them and finds a bit of revenge in that he lived longer than that person.
www.online-literature.com/donne/
www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/funeral.php
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