The Concept of Death in John Donne and Sohrab Sepehri: A Comparative Study

Behnam Mirzababazadeh Fomeshi

doi:10.9744/kata.15.2.77-84

Abstract

Death has always permeated human‘s thoughts at all levels. This preoccupation with death is manifested in the realm of literature. John Donne is one of the artists whose obsession with death is universally recognized. The contemporary Iranian poet, Sohrab Sepehri, in some of his poems employs the subject, too. Unlike Donne, Sepehri is not known as a ‗death poet.‘ Although he lives in a turbulent period in the history of Iran, he is not influenced by his immediate condition. While the English poet is inconsistent in his treatment of death, Sepehri is consistent in his treatment of death. Sepehri‘s consistency in the treatment of death has something to do with his religious beliefs. The reason behind Sepehri‘s consistency in treating death as a positive phenomenon is his familiarity with the Islamic Sufism and eastern mysticisms.

Highlights

Death is an inevitable destiny for human, and for this reason it has always permeated his/her thoughts at all levels
Philosophic speculations on subjects other than death appear in his works, and philosophic apprehensions concerning death and immortality occupy considerable space
Donne has some personal motives for using death in his works. The bereavement of his family members and loved ones manifested in Holly Sonnet XVII, A Nocturnal Upon Saint Lucy’s Day, and An Anatomy of the World, his occupation as a preacher manifested in Death's Duel, the harassment of the Catholics, his poverty, ―his lifelong ill-health‖ (Rugoff, 1962, p. 234), and the plagues which regularly attacked London qualify as these motives

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Death is an inevitable destiny for human, and for this reason it has always permeated his/her thoughts at all levels. Donne's final sermon, Death's Duel, delivered at the beginning of Lent, was effective, as the preacher himself was near death from stomach cancer Through the work he described in ―such vivid terms death‘s eventual defeat through resurrection‖ 179), portrays life as a steady descent to suffering and death, yet sees hope in salvation and immortality through an embrace of God, Christ and the Resurrection In this sermon death is viewed as ―a birth—a beginning, for some, of immortal life‖ Donne does not see hope in salvation and immortality through an embrace of God, Christ and the Resurrection as he sees in Death’s Duel It voices ―anxious fears about his salvation or about his desperate sins and helplessness" It voices ―anxious fears about his salvation or about his desperate sins and helplessness" (Greenblatt et al, 2006, p. 1606)

A Nocturnal upon Saint Lucy’s Day

CONCLUSION