Sonnet 10 by Donne is a Petrarcan sonnet because it has an octet and a sestet. The rhyme scheme of the poem is ABBAABBACDCDEE. In the poem, the speaker talks about Death and claims that Death should not feel too proud because it is not as "mighty" as many claim it to be. In actuality Death doesn't kill anyone. The speaker explains that rest and sleep are all copies of Death; therefore, Death is just as pleasurable and needed as the above. In addition, Death is also subjugated to things like poison and war. Also, there are other things like magic and drugs that can make men sleep just as well as they would if they were dead and therefore there is no reason for Death to hold any sense of pride. Furthermore, people aren't eternally dead because the next step is after life where they are immortals.
The poem can be looked at in two ways. One by looking at the sarcastic tone of Donne who seems to be overconfident and says that Death thinks it harming mankind but in actuality it is only sending them to heaven a place where they can have new beginnings and enjoy the afterlife. In addition, only those who haven't had a fulfilling life should fear death while those who have had a fulfilling life only look at death as the next step. Another way that the poem can be looked at is that through his overconfidence and treating death like an inferior, Donne is trying to ease some of the anxieties of death that many people have. He is merely trying to compel a trust in the afterlife as a just the next step in life's long journey. It is also interesting to note that throughout that poem, Donne is talking to death and has personified it because earlier Death was regarded solely as a spirit. He makes Death mortal and exposes it to things like pain, suffering and his own insults.
