SONNET X

Translation

"Morte non essere orgogliosa, nonostante alcuni ti abbiano chiamata

potente e terribile, poiché tu non sei così

perché quelli che tu pensi di rovesciare (sconfiggere)

non muoiono, povera Morte, e non puoi nemmeno uccidere ancora me.

Dal riposare e dal dormire, che non sono altro che tue rappresentazioni,

(si ricava) molto piacere, quindi da te si deve ricavare ancora più piacere,

e più in fretta i nostri uomini migliori con te se ne vanno

riposo per le loro ossa, e liberazione dell'anima.

La tua arte è schiava di destino, probabilità, re e uomini disperati,

e abiti con il veleno, la guerra e la malattia

il papavero e gli incantesimi ci possono far dormire allo stesso modo

e (anzi) meglio del tuo colpo (fendente); per quale motivo ti gonfi allora?

Dopo  un breve sonno, noi ci svegliamo per l'eternità

e la morte non ci sarà più; Morte tu devi morire"

Structural  Analysis

The sonnet follows the English model. It is arranged into three quatrains and a final rhyming couple. The rhyme scheme is the following: ABBA ABBA CDDC EE

The function of the first quatrain is to introduce the main topic of the lyric: the inability of Death to kill (Christian people).

In the second stanza the narrator tells the reader his opinion, explaining it with great points. In this circumstance he compares Death with pleasant things like sleeping and resting.

In the third one he describes Death like a sick thing, that brings with her only poison, war and sickness. He also explains the first thing said in the first line:  Death has not to be proud because she can not keep under her control many things and also because things like poppy and charms can make people sleep better than her.

The final rhyming couplet gives a further argumentation people not to be afraid about Death: if people believe in God, will live eternally.

Denotative Analysis

The Sonnet X is written by John Donne and it belongs to his "Holy Sonnets" included into his "Divine Poems".

This sonnet is addressed  to Death and it is written in the form of dialogue.  The speaking voice tells the Death, who is personified, not to be proud, because she can not kill anyone. He also tells that die may be a pleasant thing, because it has to be like sleeping and resting, and both of them are pleasant things.

In a second time the narrator says that Death can not keep under control fate, change, kings and desperate men, and so she can not act in whatever way she wants. After that he tells the reader that Death is not a pleasant company, because she dwells with poison, war and sickness.

The narrator ends the sonnet saying that people who believe in God don't have to be afraid about death, because after dying they will live again and eternally in the heaven.

Connotative Analysis

The main figures of speech noticed in this sonnet are: alliterations, enjambments, an anticlimax, an anaphor and a personification. the alliterations and the enjambments make the reading more fluent.  the anaphor is set in the third quatrain. It is the repetition in the beginning of three sequent lines of the word "and". there is also a frequent use of asyndeton in all the lyric. In the list of things that Death can not control we found an anticlimax, this because they go from an upper thing like fate to desperate men following a descendent order. The main figure of speech is the personification of the death, which is present in the entire sonnet. the narrator addresses himself directly to her.