Audiobook · read by volunteers
Death Be Not Proud
John Donne (1572–1631)
Read by Andrew Miller, Annie Coleman Rothenberg, Dreama Lynn, Graham Williams, Kristin Hughes (1974-2021), Kymm Zuckert, Fox in the Stars, Martin Clifton, Peter Yearsley, Robert Garrison · 11 chapters · 16 min
About the book
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee mighty and dreadful. So begins one of the most famous sonnets in English, in which John Donne addresses death directly, scolds it, and strips away its power in just fourteen lines. Here is that single poem in eleven separate readings, recorded to mark the American Memorial Day, a time set aside to remember those who died in war. Each volunteer brings a different voice and a different shade of feeling to Donne’s argument. Hearing the poem so many times lets you notice how the sonnet builds, how its confidence turns, and how its last short phrase lands. The whole set lasts less than twenty minutes. It is a compact way to meet a masterpiece, and a fitting companion for a quiet moment of remembrance.
Introduction
John Donne (1572–1631) was an English poet and, later in life, a cleric who became Dean of St Paul’s in London. He is regarded as a leading figure among the metaphysical poets, who combined intellectual daring with intense feeling. Death Be Not Proud is one of his Holy Sonnets, a group of devotional poems in which he wrestles with faith, sin and mortality. The date given here, 1633, is that of the first printed collection of his poems, which appeared after his death. Donne’s poem is compact, and its arguments move quickly, which is why a series of readings is such a useful way to follow the thought from the opening address to the closing line.
The sonnet is a direct challenge to death itself. Rather than accept the fear that death inspires, the speaker argues that it is a servant of larger forces and that it will, in the end, be overcome. The language is plain, the reasoning compact and the confidence startling for a poem about mortality. The closing line, which says that death itself shall die, is among the most famous in English poetry. This recording is a multi-version project. LibriVox volunteers produced eleven readings of the same poem during the week of the American Memorial Day, which was established as a time to remember military men and women who had lost their lives in war.
There are 11 chapters, one for each version, and the whole collection takes about twenty minutes.
It is a good way to hear how one great poem can sound very different in different mouths.
Public domain
John Donne died in 1631: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text