Question

In The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Tolstoy explores a man’s attitude toward death. The poem “Death Be Not Proud” by John Donne portrays the same theme. Read and listen to the poem.
Death Be Not Proud



by John Donne


Death be not proud, though some have called thee

Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe,

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 soules deliverie.

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 then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,

And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.


In a short essay, compare how the speaker in Donne’s poem talks about death with how Ivan Ilyich thinks about death in chapters 5–8 of The Death of Ivan Ilyich. What does death symbolize for the speaker in the poem? What does it seem to symbolize so far for Ivan Ilyich? Cite evidence from both texts to support your response.


The Death of Ivan Ilyich- https://cd-ple.ple.platoweb.com/resource/a8090e1f-729c-40b5-b319-49699f901e6b

Answer 1

On one hand, we have the narrator of Death Be Not Proud who is brave when faced with Death. He is trying to diminish its influence by showing that he is not afraid because it can't do much to him - once he dies, he will transcend life and continue existing somewhere else, and then Death won't have any power over him - "One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally, And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die."

On the other hand, we have Ivan Ilyich from The Death of Ivan Ilyich. Here, we have quite the opposite situation. We can see that Ivan is terribly afraid of dying and that he is trying to deny the fact that death is near. He doesn't want to die, he isn't ready for that, and he is scared to death. He is not sure if there is anything beyond death, whereas the first speaker is quite certain death is not the end. "When I am not, what will there be? There will be nothing. Then where shall I be when I am no more? Can this be dying? No, I don't want to!"

Answer 2

One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,

And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

For Ivan Ilyich, death is darkness, nothingness, a chilling reality that he is frightened to accept:

"Yes, life was there and now it is going, going and I cannot stop it. Yes. Why deceive myself? Isn't it obvious to everyone but me that I'm dying, and that it's only a question of weeks, days...it may happen this moment. There was light and now there is darkness. I was here and now I'm going there! Where?" A chill came over him, his breathing ceased, and he felt only the throbbing of his heart….

"When I am not, what will there be? There will be nothing. Then where shall I be when I am no more? Can this be dying? No, I don’t want to!” He jumped up and tried to light the candle, felt for it with trembling hands, dropped candle and candlestick on the floor, and fell back on his pillow.