Death, be not proud

This poem is patterned in three groups of four ines followed by two couplets. The first group of four lines states that many see death as nightly and powerful but the speaker says this is not true. The nest two groups provide example of this. The speaker says death looks like sleep and sleep brings us pleasure. The speaker also says that death is ruled by chance, kings, war, and sickness and because of this these things are more mighty than death. The last two couplets say how the speaker knows that death will be short and then he will move on to eternal life where he will no longer have to worry about death. This poem ends with the paradox, "death, thou shalt die." Meaning that when we are in eternal life and no longer concerned with death, death will be dead.