Death Be Not Proud

A sonnet is a 14-line poem. “Death, Be Not Proud” consists of elements of the Petrarchan sonnet form, named after the 14th-century Italian poet Petrarch, as well as the English or Shakespearean sonnet form. The Petrarchan sonnet consists of an octave (eight lines) in which a situation or problem is presented, followed in the sestet (six lines) by a resolution. In this respect, Donne’s sonnet tends to follow the English sonnet, which often consists of three quatrains that develop the argument or situation before reaching an epigrammatic conclusion in the final couplet. However, Donne does not follow the standard rhyme scheme of the English sonnet. Instead, he comes closer to the Petrarchan form, rhyming his lines ABBA ABBA CDDC AA.  That is, Line 1 rhymes with Line 4, and Line 2 rhymes with Line 3 in the first two quatrains, followed by a new set of rhymes in the third quatrain and then a final rhyming couplet that also rhymes with the first and third lines of the poem. The Petrarchan sonnet rhymes in similar fashion, ABBA ABBA, but then usually CDECDE in the sestet, so Donne departs from the Petrarchan rhyme pattern in that respect.