James Shirley wrote the poem ‘Death the Leveller’. James Shirley supports the thoughts of Francis Beaumont, that death is the end, death is finality.
‘The glories if our blood and state
Are shadows, not substantial things,’
These are the first two lines of the poem and James Shirley gets right to his point of what he believes. The lines suggest that all the glories we have, all the possessions we own and, what ever it’s value in the end it’s worth nothing because when we die it becomes nothing.
‘Death lays his icy hand on kings:’
Just like Francis Beaumont, James Shirley suggest that even though the king is powerful he will also die this is because it does not matter if you are rich or poor in the end we all die, even kings because death will over rule everything in the end.
‘Only the actions of the just
Smell sweet and blossom in the dust.’
James Shirley ends the poem with the lines above and he does it very as he tells the reader that even good people die, yet it does not mean that the actions can not be remembered and carried on. This means that when one dies their actions are remembered and that if they are good people will use them as guides or use them for good, but in the end the person still dies even if they were a good person, because death is all powerful and it is a finality.
John Donne and Dylan Thomas are the other two poets, who have similar beliefs on death. They both believe that death is the beginning of a new life.
John Donne wrote the poem ‘Death’
‘DEATH, be not proud, though some have called thee’
This is the first line of the poem and it suggest that John Donne thought that death has nothing to be proud of even if some may say it is does.
‘Die not, poor death; nor yet canst thou kill me’
This suggests that John Donne thought that death will not be able to get him and therefore he would die but he would have an after life or go to heaven and death would not be able to beat him. This may also suggest that John Donne believed in God and that God would not allow his soul to die.
‘Rest of their bones and soul’s delivery!’
This suggests that he will die but his soul will not, his soul will carry on and it will be beginning of a new life but in a different form, or someone will go to heaven.
‘Thou’rt slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,’
This suggests that death is a fate to the kings, and that because kings have a lot of power; death will not have the authority to kill. It also suggests that desperate men cannot survive.
‘One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die!’
This suggests whether we are awake or asleep we all wake up in heaven in the end. What this means is that when we are sleeping, we are not really a hundred percent sure if we have fallen asleep or are still awake. When we say we are sleeping, we could be in heaven, and when we go to sleep we don’t no whether we are going to wake up again or go straight to heaven. When this happens we will be safe and death will not be able to get us and death will be dead and will no longer exist because death is not as powerful as God. John Donne is not afraid of death, we can see this because he criticizes death and if he was scared of death he would not talk about it in such a way.
Dylan Thomas shares the same view as on death as John Donne and backs him up on his points.
Dylan Thomas wrote the poem ‘And death shall have no dominion’.
The title itself means that death will not have the authority to rule.
‘Dead men naked they shall be one
With the man in the wind and the west moon;’
This may suggest that Dylan Thomas believed that in the end all people become one, and that when they die everyone will be the same.
‘Though they sink through the sea they shall rise again’
This may suggest that when we die we come back again, not as the same person them but the soul will carry on and reappear in a new form, in a new life or high above in heaven.
‘Though lovers be lost love shall not;’
This suggests that even though the lovers are lost, the love between the two is boundless and it would rule death, death will not have any authority to rule and that it is unable to get you as the spirits come back.
‘And death shall have no dominion’
Dylan Thomas uses this line, in the title of the poem, in the beginning and end of each stanza and this suggest that he may have been trying to remind the reader of the main point that death will have no authority to rule.
Francis Beaumont and John Donne both believe in the same meaning for death and this is shown in their poems above. They both believe that death is finality and neither of them have mentioned after life or heaven. This shows that both poets believed that death is finality and it would over rule everything including God.
Dylan Thomas and James Shirley both believe that death is the beginning of a new life. They both express this differently but have the same final view on it. They both mention after life and John Donne mentions God and heaven. John Donne believes that the rich and high casted can over rule death and Dylan Thomas believes that no matter how rich or poor you are death will not win. John Donne was a priest and therefore because he followed God and was most likely to be religious he believed that there is a heaven and God.
In conclusion I believe that that all four poets have there own way of writing about whether they believe that death is finality or the beginning of a new life. The poets may have their reasons for believing in what they did and perhaps this is the way they thought of life the beginning or the end. I disagree with both James Shirley and Francis Beaumont as I believe that death is not finality and that we can have an after life. I agree with Dylan Thomas as I believe that no matter how high or low our cast we will die and become the same and it is up to the soul to carry on and make the next person a better person, and this is why I disagree with the fact that if you are a lower cast you will not go to heaven because I believe that you can improve in your next life and that is the reason for the next life; so you can improve on the mistakes you made in the previous life.
