Answer:
Check below for the answer
Explanation:
The 14 line poem referred to in this question is Holy Sonnet X also referred to as Death be not proud by John Donne.
One of the metaphors he used is "poor death". He refers to death directly as poor because it is not as powerful as he is seen by people or as he sees himself. John Donne believes in life after death as a devout christian and so tells death that those who he thinks he kills do not die, he only delivers their souls from pain and anguish and delivers their souls into an eternity of life and peace. He challenges death that he (death) does not have the power to kill him ( Donne). He said, "For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee,
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and souls deliverie."
John Donne also uses another metaphor for death. "Thou are slave to faith, chance....". He considers death as powerless on its own who does not kill on its own volition but only run errands for forces more powerful than himself. He says death has nothing to be proud of since he is only an " errand boy" for these superior forces.
This can be seen from the second to the last stanza, " Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell,
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better than thy stroake; why swell'st thou then?"
In the last line, John alludes to the point made in the scriptures that we as men shall live for ever in eternity while death himself shall die as it has been written.
