Death, Donne and other cheerful stuff

If you've ever sitten down and thought about it... Death seems like quite the scary topic doesn't it? I'm an artist and the one time I tried to draw "death", it came out as a big scary dark monster hidden in shadows, waiting to reach out its sharp claws and snatch up its prey. And while I do pride myself on my unique imagination, I'm willing to bet my best brushes that I'm not the only one who's envisioned it so. It's conforting at least, that some people are more optimistic about it. I'm no Christian but John Donne does put it nicely in  HOLY SONNET 10 Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so ; For those, whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow, Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. From rest and sleep, which but thy picture[s] be, Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery. Thou'rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well, And better than thy stroke ;  why swell'st thou then ? One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And Death shall be no more ;  Death, thou shalt die.     Sooo yup, he pretty much got it right. Death maybe isn't all that scary after all. In class we were talking about how Donne was "humanizing" death, personnifying it to bring it down to the level of a mortal. Isn't that a funny thought? Death, mortal? And yet that is the very thing upon which Donne insists; that death IS mortal, that it is lower than God, that it can be defeated. If you look at the closing lines, "And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die". I mean, wow. How powerful is that? Deathception. I guess Donne's referring to the fact that after you die, you're supposed to go to Heaven and live forever happily ever after and unicorns and rainbows and all that stuff. But for the less religious, or maybe it's just me, but I think it says more than that. I think that telling Death that it will die is a sort of acceptance. If you've ever read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, you'll know the Tale of Three Brothers, where each of them asks for something different from Death for thwarting him with the bridge. At the end of the story, in case you don't know, the youngest and smartets brother who'd asked for a cloack of invisibility, gives the cloack to his son and goes to "greet Death like an old friend". I think this mindset is the one we should all strive for; to live life well; love, make friends, have fun.. and when it's time to go, we can go without regrets, and satisfied with what we've done. Of course, being ready to die is easier said than Donne. LOL get it? Donne, done? I'm so punny I know. No? Ok fine. Nevermind. The point is, obviously it is difficult to just, accet that you, your parents, your friends, everyone will all eventually die. But you can do your best to make sure that your life was a meaningful one. It's really the journey that makes the person, as cheesy as that sounds. And if you ARE religious, then if you've lived a life that you can be proud of, then you have nothing to fear, right? </end rant>

Hurrah sonnet time

I'm pretty sure everyone's known someone so completely gorgeous that they (think) they can get away with pretty much anything. I suppose it's true to a certain degree, but in the long run, well, Spenser's Sonnet 79 describes it pretty well. 

Men call you fayre and you doe credit it,
For that your selfe ye dayly such doe see:
But the trew fayre, that is the gentle wit,
And vertous mind, is much more praysd of me.
For all the rest, how ever fayre it be,
Shall turne to nought and loose that glorious hew:
But onely that is permanent and free
From frayle corruption, that doth flesh ensew
That is true beautie: that doth argue you
To be divine and borne of heavly seed:
Derived from that fayre Spirit, from whom al true
And perfect beauty did at first proceed.
He onely fayre, and what he fayre hath made:
All other fayre, lyke flowres, untymely fade. 

So what I got from this is that basically, there's a beautiful woman. People think she's pretty and she knows it. In fact, she's probably one of those aforementioned "I can do anything, say anything because I'm GORGEOUS and y'all love me" types. Yet Spenser argues that true beauty is on the inside; that external beauty only lasts until you start growing old and deteriorating. And when that time comes, you best have some other qualities that people will like you for if you expect to not be -foreveralone- later on. Is it wrong to be vain? Not really. Everyone is to a certain degree, and it's not a bad thing to want to look presentable. But there is definitely a limit as to how big of a part vanity plays in your life. Once it starts to override other things like kindness, respect or compassion for example, that's when it starts to become a problem.